A temporary lifting of a blockade at one of Yemen’s most critical ports will January 19th, pushing Yemen’s deteriorating humanitarian situation into an even more critical, uncertain state, the Norwegian Refugee Council told Devex this week.

What looked on paper to be a good policy for easing the blockade has done very little to lower prices of essential daily items like fuel and food. The instability caused by the coalition’s arbitrary policies, closing ports one day and reopening them on another, is making problems worse for the Yemeni population. Shipping companies, importers, and vendors are left without assurance that the port will remain open, and this is serving to sustain inflation that makes food unaffordable for most Yemeni people.

More than 7 million people in Yemen — almost one-fourth of the country — are now entirely dependent on aid. But recent temporary blockades of the key Hudaydah Port have presented major operational challenges for aid groups working to deliver emergency services.

Now, a 30-day period that eased this temporary commercial blockade over Hudaydah Port will expire on Jan. 19, without a clear resolution in sight. The Saudi-led coalition, which backs Yemen’s exiled government and are fighting the Houthi rebels, first instituted a full blockade in November.

Read the full article on Yemen aid by Amy Lieberman  at Devex International Development