SANAA, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The World Food Programme (WFP) team in Yemen was denied on Tuesday guarantees for "safe" access to grain storage mills in the embattled port city of Hodeidah, a WFP official told Xinhua.
"We have postponed a plan to access the mills because of security issues ... We were not able to receive guarantees from the warring forces for safe access," Stephen Anderson, WFP representative and country director in the capital Sanaa, told Xinhua by phone.
According to Anderson, the UN aid team was set to access the mills on Tuesday to fumigate more than 51,000 tonnes of wheat at risk of rotting. The wheat is enough to feed over 3 million Yemenis in dire need.
The Red Sea mills are critical facility for the WFP to store its food aid. The aid agency granted access to the mills in March, but it has since be unable to cross the front line despite a cease-fire deal between the warring parties.
The Iranian-allied Houthi rebels control the city while the Saudi-backed government troops control the southeastern outskirts where the mills are located.
"It's very complicated situations. So it takes us a lot of time to plan for a one-day visit to the food aid storages," Anderson said.
"The urgency is very very high from our side and we are trying to find an alternative plan to access the mills to save the food aid form getting lost," he added.
Hodeidah is the key lifeline entry point for the country's most food imports and humanitarian aid. The four-year grinding war has pushed over 20 million to the verge of starvation.
Yemeni warring parties reached the peace deal on Hodeidah in December last year. They have largely held the cease-fire deal but failed to withdraw their forces.
The UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths has been shuttling between the rival sides to push the deal toward the implementation.
