Aid mission to arrive in Yemen

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SANAA, Yemen, May 30 (UPI) -- International aid agencies will send teams to Yemen in June to detail the country's humanitarian needs and pave the way for donations, officials said.

Humanitarian aid agencies -- OXFAM, UNICEF, Islamic Relief -- and many others non-governmental agencies warned after their preliminary assessments of the situation that Yemen was tittering on the "brink of a humanitarian catastrophe." They are urging the international community to swiftly release aid to the impoverished nation.

Saba News reported Wednesday the mission will be led by Islamic Relief and include teams from the United Nations, the European Union, USAID, the Arab League and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Atta al-Mannan Bakheit, assistant secretary-general for humanitarian affairs for the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, was quoted by the Yemen Post Wednesday as saying Yemen was facing a crisis far worse than that in Somalia.

The United Nations aid in May it would provide Yemen with 40 percent of its $450 million in aid needs.