People gather in the site of an airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, on November 11, 2017. The Saudi-led coalition has been bombing northern Yemen for several days. Mohammed Mohammed\/Press Association. All rights reserved. Yemen is finally making
\nthe headlines of mainstream media in UK. Why now? Since early this year, UN and
\nother humanitarian agencies working in Yemen warned the world that the country
\nis about to suffer an unprecedented famine. Earlier this was discussed
\nalongside the expected famines in Africa.\u00a0
\nIn recent months little has been heard about any of them while the
\nsituation continued to deteriorate.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
At the outset, readers
\nneed to remember that the UN\u2019s 2017 Humanitarian Response Plan only intends to
\nreach 7 million people with its emergency assistance, although it estimates
\nthat 21 million are in need: it is only hoping to reach one third of people
\nneeding help. This is partly due to the lack of funds: as of mid-November, 1.5 months
\nbefore the end of the year, it had received only 57% of the funds required to
\nreach this small percentage of desperate Yemenis. <\/p>\n
When looking at UN and
\nother humanitarian achievements, it is important to remember how many of the
\nmillions of Yemenis are not even targeted by assistance from the international
\ncommunity as a whole, which means us as Northern taxpayers, among others.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
With the exception of
\ncoalition forces taking control of Mokha port in the southern part of the Red
\nSea earlier this year, military stalemate prevails since September 2015. Throughout
\nthe period there has been limited ground fighting between\u00a0 the Saleh-Huthi \u2018rebels\u2019 and the Saudi-led
\ncoalition whose ground forces include the Yemeni official army, various Salafi,
\nIslahi and other militias variously supported by Sudanese and Emirati troops. Daily
\nair strikes by the Saudi-led coalition get occasional publicity and have
\ndestroyed much infrastructure, including thousands of schools and medical
\nfacilities. They also regularly wound and kill civilians in \u2018mistakes\u2019 despite
\nthe targeting assistance the coalition gets from the US and UK as well as US
\nin-air re-fuelling of its fighter aircrafts, an intervention without which it
\nwould be unable to carry out the majority of airstrikes.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Other less discussed
\nmilitary interventions are the frequent incursions of the Saleh-Huthi forces in
\nthe Saudi provinces of Najran, Jizan and Aseer which have killed and wounded
\nhundreds of Saudi Arabian soldiers in the 32 months since the war started. More
\nspoken about are the occasional modified Scud missiles they launch against
\nvarious Saudi locations, a few of which reach their destination. The latest of
\nthese, on 4 November, was brought down over Riyadh\u2019s international airport. It
\ntook place, most probably coincidentally, on the day Crown Prince Mohammed bin
\nSalman\u2019s (MbS) implemented the latest stage in his takeover of all power (some
\nmight call it a slow coup) in Saudi Arabia. <\/p>\n
The missile gave the
\nSaudi regime another excuse to blame Iran as the real enemy in Yemen. While in
\nreality this war is first and foremost one between Yemeni factions for political
\ncontrol, Saudi discourse has shifted from the early days in 2015 when the
\nobjective was expressly stated to be the re-instatement of President Hadi to
\npower in Sana\u2019a. Nowadays, Saudi discourse focuses on the claim that the war aim
\nis to prevent an Iranian take-over of Yemen, describing the Huthi movement as
\nnothing more than an Iranian proxy, denying its nature as an autonomous
\nmovement. This distortion of the real nature of the conflict only serves to
\nextend the war and worsen suffering.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Faced with a military
\nstalemate, the Saudi-led coalition has adopted alternative strategies.
\nExpansion of the air strikes on a Syrian model is not an option, largely thanks
\nto pressure from its western allies, mainly the US and UK, which are under
\npressure in their legislatures and public opinions about their contributing
\nrole to the disastrous situation in Yemen. <\/p>\n
So the tactic it has
\nchosen is one which has failed everywhere it has been tried, namely to make
\nliving conditions for the population as unbearable as possible, in the hope
\nthat this would turn people against their rulers. In Yemen this has taken the
\nform of the blockade preventing basic necessities from reaching the people<\/p>\n
Since early 2015, the
\nSaudi-led coalition has enforced a blockade on Yemen\u2019s main ports under the
\ncontrol of the Huthi-Saleh alliance, Hodeida and Saleef. They supply the areas
\nwhere 71% of the people in need live and 82% of cholera cases are found. Despite
\nbeing a rural and agricultural nation, under \u2018normal\u2019 conditions, Yemen imports
\nabout 80% of its staples, most of which arrive through Hodeida port which was
\nequipped with the necessary infrastructure [cranes to unload the ships, and
\nstorage facilities] and is closest to the areas of highest population density.
\nThe third main port, \u00a0Aden, under the
\ncontrol of the Saudi-led coalition, has serious logistical problems of storage
\nand additional transport costs, let alone the political hostility of southern
\nseparatists to anything which might help those whom they regard, at best, as
\n\u2018northern foreigners\u2019 and at worst \u2018northern invaders\/occupiers\u2019.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Official justification
\nfor the blockade comes in UNSC resolution 2216 which includes an arms embargo against
\nthe Huthi-Saleh faction. In practice this has been an excuse to prevent the delivery
\nof essential necessities (food and fuel).With the establishment of a UN
\nverification mechanism (UNVIM) in early 2016, despite delays and clear
\nobstructionism, some ships were allowed to unload.\u00a0 However, operational capacity in Hodeida port
\nhas been considerably restricted by the precision bombing of its cranes and
\nother facilities in August 2015, limiting the number and types of ships it can
\nreceive. Although the US financed replacement cranes, the coalition has
\nprevented their installation. <\/p>\n
A further blow to the
\nhumanitarian situation took place in September 2016 when the Hadi regime
\nunilaterally decided to transfer the Central Bank of Yemen from Sana\u2019a to Aden;
\nsince then neither of the two rival banks has functioned effectively. In
\nparticular this has prevented the majority of commercial food imports (who
\nsupply 80% of the country\u2019s needs) as traders have been unable to obtain the
\nletters of credit needed for purchases on the world market. While there is no
\ndoubt that some food reaches Yemen through the smuggling networks operated in
\ncollusion by the leaders of the various factions, these quantities are
\ninsignificant by comparison with requirements. The retail prices on local markets
\nhave risen so much that few can afford to buy at a time when the economy has
\nbasically collapsed. Most civil servants (about 1.2 million people supporting
\nabout 1\/3 of the country\u2019s population) have not received their salaries for
\nover a year.<\/p>\n
So by early 2017, the
\npeople of Yemen were facing hunger and, for the poorer, starvation, which
\nexplains why the UN then said 7 million of them were on the brink of famine. By
\nthe middle of this year, Yemen has achieved two tragic world records: the
\nworld\u2019s worst humanitarian disaster and the world\u2019s worst recorded cholera
\noutbreak. As senior UN officials keep repeating, this is a \u2018man made\u2019 disaster,
\nand it is primarily due to the blockade. Just as food has been prevented from
\narriving, medical supplies are also affected. Despite their lack of salaries
\nmany medical staff continue to work and do their very best in the desperate
\nconditions of the remaining 45% medical facilities which operate to whatever
\nlimited extent they are able in the absence of fuel for generators, public
\nelectricity, medical supplies and medicines. <\/p>\n
Yemenis protest calling for an end to the Saudi-led blockade on Yemen, in Sanaa, Yemen, 13 November 2017. Hani Al-Ansi\/Press Association. All rights reserved. <\/i><\/p>\n
By the
\nmiddle of this year, Yemen has achieved two tragic world records: the world\u2019s
\nworst humanitarian disaster and the world\u2019s worst recorded cholera outbreak.<\/p>\n
While both the
\nHuthi-Saleh alliance and the Saudi-led coalition share responsibility for this
\ncatastrophe, the latter has a far greater responsibility given that both the constraints
\non commercial imports [due to the CBY moves] and the blockade of the main
\nports, are of its doing. Despite having achieved these stunning and shocking
\nrecords, the coalition has failed in its stated aim, and President Hadi is
\nensconced in Riyadh while the Huthis rule in Sana\u2019a. <\/p>\n
The UN\u2019s figures for
\nwar-related casualties have remained static for well over a year, clearly not
\nreflecting reality: its Human Rights office only recorded 13,504 civilian
\ncasualties between March 2015and June 2017 (4,971 dead, 8,533 injured). In
\naddition to the thousands not recorded by the UN, many others have died
\nfrom war-related causes, primarily hunger and disease. If the UNICEF estimate
\nof a child dying every ten minutes is correct, that means 4 300 children are
\ndying monthly, or 52,000 in the last year. Adults are also dying of hunger,
\ncholera and other diseases; most recently a diphtheria outbreak has started.<\/p>\n
The 4 November missile
\nstrike, other than its contribution to the Saudi anti-Iranian discourse, has
\nhad an extremely negative impact on humanitarian conditions in Yemen.
\nPredictably it brought about a violent and dramatic response by the Saudi
\nregime. In addition to increasing air strikes throughout Yemen and particularly
\nin Sana\u2019a (where close to a hundred people were killed in a few days),
\npreventing Iran from transferring more missiles to Yemen was asserted on 5 November
\nas the justification for Saudi Arabia\u2019s closure of all Yemeni ports and
\nairports, including those theoretically under the control of the government it
\nsupports!\u00a0 <\/p>\n
While it is worth discussing
\nwhether the missile came from Iran in the first place, given the large stocks
\nof Scuds bought by the Saleh regime over decades, the outcome of this decision
\nis unarguable. It has dramatically
\nworsened an already abysmal situation and, since then, senior UN officials have
\nbeen raising the alarm on a daily basis: no UN flights travel, leaving humanitarian
\npersonnel and material stranded, ships in transit accumulate demurrage costs
\nwhile their medical or food cargoes deteriorate, increasing the risk of their
\nbecoming unfit for use. Among others, the World Health Organisation (WHO) was
\nprevented from delivering 250 tons of basic medical supplies. <\/p>\n
The international outcry
\nin response to the Saudi decision to close all ports and airports in Yemen led its
\ndecision makers to formally partly back down. On 12 November they announced
\nthat the facilities in the areas controlled by the Internationally Recognised
\nGovernment would be re-opened, but that Hodeida and Saleef, the main ports
\nunder the control of the Saleh-Huthi alliance, would remain closed until the UN
\nprovide \u2018a more robust verification and inspection mechanism aimed at
\nfacilitating the flow of humanitarian and commercial shipments while preventing
\nthe smuggling of weapons, ammunition, missile parts and cash that are regularly
\nbeing supplied by Iran and Iranian accomplices.\u2019[1]
\nMaybe it is worth pointing out that there has been no evidence of any of these
\nitems being smuggled into Hodeida or Saleef ports since the conflict started or
\nany claims that the UNVIM has not been effective. <\/p>\n
Saudi Arabia\u2019s proposed
\nalternatives to Hodeida and Saleef are unrealistic and merely demonstrate its
\ndetermination to restrict the delivery of necessities to the Yemeni people. As
\nput by the UN \u201ctransporting humanitarian aid on a large scale from Aden, Jizan,
\nand Salalah ports to areas with the highest number of people in need, would
\nentail crossing conflict areas and frontlines, and can present delays,
\nclearance restrictions, security-related complications, high transportation
\ncosts and disruption of supplies.\u201d[2]
\n\u00a0Jizan, in Saudi Arabia, is in an area frequently
\nattacked by the Huthis, while Salalah in Oman is 1,900 km from Sana\u2019a along the
\nroute currently practicable for trucks; they would need to negotiate about 100
\ncheckpoints on the way, manned by a wide range of mutually hostile groups, many
\nof which \u2018tax\u2019 traffic, particularly traffic carrying goods.<\/p>\n
As for Sana\u2019a airport, it
\nhas been closed since August 2016 to all except UN and some humanitarian
\norganisation flights, preventing the departure of people desperate for medical
\ntreatment abroad or needing to travel for other reasons. In response to outrage
\nfrom the international community and renewed demands for its re-opening, the
\nSaudi-led coalition found a highly effective mechanism to address these appeals
\nto the basic humanity of its leadership: on Tuesday 14 November its air raids
\ndestroyed Sana\u2019a airport\u2019s radio navigation station putting it out of action,[3]
\nensuring that no UN or other flight can land for some time to come. On Tuesday 14 November its air raids destroyed Sana\u2019a
\nairport\u2019s radio navigation station putting it out of action,
\nensuring that no UN or other flight can land for some time to come. <\/p>\n
So the only conclusion
\nthat can be reached is that, in its proxy war against Iran, Saudi authorities
\nhave decided to accelerate the death of millions of Yemenis. Not content with
\nhaving blockaded the country and helping it to achieve two horrific world
\nrecords, it is now trying to ensure that Yemen achieves a third: the highest
\ndeath toll from famine.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
May one hope that
\nsomeone, somewhere among the decision makers retains enough compassion to
\nreverse these decisions and re-open all sea and air ports to civilian travel,
\nfood and fuel imports, medical supplies and other necessities, whether by
\ncommercial or humanitarian agencies, and enable the Yemeni population to lead as
\nnormal a life as is possible under war conditions. The vast, not to say
\noverwhelming, majority of Yemenis just want to live and would be only too happy
\nto be rid of all the so-called leaders who have shown so little consideration
\nfor their lives, let alone welfare, in recent years.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
[1]
\nLetter from the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to the United
\nNations, New York, 12 November 2017<\/p>\n
[2] [3]\u00a0 Reuters, 14 November 2017 https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/us-yemen-security-airport\/saudi-led-coalition-air-raid-puts-yemens-sanaa-airport-out-of-service-agency-idUSKBN1DE27Y<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" People gather in the site of an airstrike in Sanaa, Yemen, on November 11, 2017. The Saudi-led coalition has been bombing northern Yemen for several days. Mohammed Mohammed\/Press Association. All rights reserved. Yemen is finally making the headlines of mainstream media in UK. Why now? Since early this year, UN and other humanitarian agencies working…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1091"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1091\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nUNOCHA statement on 13 November 2017\u00a0 ensuring
\nYemen\u2019s lifeline: the criticality of all Yemeni ports.<\/em><\/p>\n