Still from the film documentary,'Starving Yemen'2016. BBC Arabic\/BBC Our World. All rights reserved.Most of us are glued to our visual media watching the
\nnightmare unfolding in Aleppo and the systematic bombing and killing of a
\nbesieged population in the city while the world\u2019s politicians are debating allocation
\nof responsibility in New York between meals at expensive restaurants.\u00a0 Meanwhile, as we are watching Syria, other
\ntragedies are unfolding in the region, Libya and Iraq\u2026. But I will focus on
\nYemen. For a year, the UN has been predicting famine in the war-torn country.\u00a0 Some of us have pointed out that Yemenis,
\nunlike people elsewhere, don\u2019t go out and starve to death in public.\u00a0 They have a different culture and do it at
\nhome and in private.\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
These horrors are caused by war, they are not climate change
\n\u2018natural\u2019 disasters. They happen because politicians (is that the right word?)
\npursue their narrow interests and objectives at the expense of the welfare and
\nlives of millions of their people. Are these men (at the moment few women are
\ninvolved here) completely deprived of any sense of humanity? <\/p>\n
Many of us wonder what answers we will give the next
\ngeneration when they ask how we could sit and watch these tragedies and do
\nnothing, just as we asked our parents how they allowed the Nazi holocaust to
\nhappen. And this time, there is no way we can answer that we don\u2019t know. Why
\nare we so helpless? Is there really nothing we can do?\u00a0 Just write, read, watch, turn up at demos in
\nfront of embassies and be ignored? Is that the best \u2018democracy\u2019 can offer?\u00a0 <\/p>\n
While many die at home some Yemenis, particularly children, Both films were made about two months ago, and in areas What of all the children further afield? What about Why is neither food aid from the WFP nor commercial This explains the shocking image in Murthy\u2019s film Malnourished people are more vulnerable to all There is little doubt that the medical services are unable 'Starving Yemen', 2016. BBC Arabic\/BBC Our World. All rights reserved.<\/i><\/p>\n Importers of essential commodities have faced Taken with the approval of the new \u2018Gang of four\u2019, Meanwhile the war goes on. The usual fronts have seen more At long last there seems to be some public momentum to put Can we achieve more? Readers are urged to write to any [1] Yemen has a total of 333 districts.<\/p>\n Thanks go to Nawal Still from the film documentary,'Starving Yemen'2016. BBC Arabic\/BBC Our World. All rights reserved.Most of us are glued to our visual media watching the nightmare unfolding in Aleppo and the systematic bombing and killing of a besieged population in the city while the world\u2019s politicians are debating allocation of responsibility in New York between meals at…<\/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-1199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199","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=1199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1199\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndo die in hospitals and their suffering is visible. Two journalists have just
\nreminded us of this. On channel 4\u2019s Unreported
\nWorld, Yemen: Britain\u2019s unseen war,<\/em>
\nKrishnan Guru-Murthy shows us harrowing scenes from hospitals in Sana\u2019a and
\ncamps in the northern Tihama coastal plain near one of the war\u2019s fronts. Nawal
\nal Maghafi\u2019s film Starving
\nYemen <\/em>\u00a0was\u00a0 filmed
\nin Hodeida itself and in Beit al Faqih, 60 km south on a major asphalted
\nstraight road in the flat Tihama plain.\u00a0 The UN tell us that 14 million Yemenis are \u2018food
\ninsecure\u2019 and 7 million of them \u2018severely food insecure\u2019, in other words
\nmalnourished or starving.<\/p>\n
\nrelatively easy to reach. Since then the situation has only worsened. In both
\nfilms, we see children dying of starvation and the diseases associated with
\nmalnutrition; they also explain the role of war-worsened poverty in the suffering.
\nThe children we see here have some access to medical facilities, despite the
\nconstraints on supplies and power, but they are still starving and dying. Both
\nthese films clearly demonstrate that famine is no longer a remote possibility
\nfor the future, but is happening now. Yemenis are dying of starvation now. <\/p>\n
\nthe adults? What about the millions who live in remote mountain villages and
\nless remote towns in the hinterland, many days\u2019 drive on collapsed tracks and
\nacross destroyed bridges, how do they get food? Highland staple is bread, and
\n90% of Yemen\u2019s wheat is imported. Although the rains have been good this year
\nand the sorghum, millet and maize crops should be good, they are by no means
\nsufficient. Highland rural families at best satisfy 20 to 30% of their food
\nneeds from their own production, urban ones are totally dependent on purchased
\nfood. The UN tell us that 14 million Yemenis are \u2018food insecure\u2019 and 7 million
\nof them \u2018severely food insecure\u2019, in other words malnourished or starving.<\/p>\nFood <\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nfood reaching them? Some blame the Saudi-led coalition\u2019s blockade. This is
\nsupposedly no longer a problem as the coalition and the internationally-recognised
\nregime have given the UN authorisation to implement a Verification and
\nInspection Mechanism to speed up the docking of ships at Red Sea ports under
\nthe control of the Huthi-Saleh faction. It has approved the landing of almost
\none million tons of food, and 923,000 tons of fuel since May this year and
\nchecked 149 ships. However, the earlier Saudi-led coalition planes\u2019 extremely
\nprecise and efficient targeting of the cranes in Hodeida port disabled them,
\nthus slowing down all unloading, and extending ships\u2019 waiting time to dock.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nof a warehouse full of 45,000 tons of decaying wheat flour which was unsuitable
\nfor human consumption by the time it was unloaded; it could have fed 45,000
\npeople for a month. A further question: how come crucial crane cabins were so
\nprecisely and efficiently targeted when apparently incompetent targeting resulted
\nin strikes on 5 MSF facilities, 4 of which are hospitals?<\/p>\nDisease<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\ndiseases. So the overall worsening of medical services is a further contributor
\nto a death toll which, up to now, has been systematically under-estimated by the
\nUN. Recently raised to over 10,000, as Dr Ashwak
\nMuharram, the doctor in Starving Yemen<\/em> says, \u201cthey only count those
\nkilled directly and ignore those who are killed for lack of medication,
\nelectricity in hospitals, or starvation.\u00a0Do you have to be killed by an
\nairstrike to count?\u00a0What about the rest?\u201d\u00a0\u201cDo you have to be killed by an airstrike to
\ncount?\u00a0What about the rest?\u201d\u00a0Estimates
\nof total deaths to those directly associated with military action vary widely,
\nbut the lowest figure is that as many people die of indirect causes.\u00a0 This would mean that the current death toll
\nin Yemen would be over 20,000.\u00a0 Many
\nobservers, particularly those with experience of the medical situation, think
\nthis is a considerable under-estimate.<\/p>\n
\nto cope with the situation. First they are starved of supplies, whether medication,
\nconsumables, or equipment. Second most of them lack electricity as most public
\nelectricity networks are not functioning, many generators are destroyed, and
\nfuel is expensive and hard to come by.\u00a0
\nThirdly, damage and destruction of medical facilities has had a major
\nimpact. According to a World Health Organisation survey,
\npublished end of September, 274 health facilities have been physically damaged
\nby the war, and as many as 1900 out of 3507 are either not functioning or only
\npartially functioning. In 267 districts[2]
\nsurveyed there is not a single doctor. In those hospitals which are
\nfunctioning, the first services to reduce operations under stress are operating
\ntheatres and intensive care units: this almost certainly ensures that those
\nwith most acute and urgent problems will die. <\/p>\nParalysed Central
\nBank<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nconsiderable difficulties on the international markets\u00a0 in recent months due to increasing
\nconstraints in the banking system and restrictions on letters of credit
\nessential for large consignments. This situation is about to worsen
\ndramatically because of the decision by the coalition-supported, internationally-recognised
\ngovernment to effectively paralyse the Central Bank (CBY). This was the only
\nremaining and operating joint national institution in a country in practice
\ndivided between the area under the control of the Huthi-Saleh alliance and the
\nareas surrounding them, which Hadi\u2019s internationally recognised government
\nclaims to control. The CBY had remained neutral and been as well managed as it could
\nbe in the circumstances. Its reserves have melted in recent months due to a lack
\nof income while it continued paying salaries. The Hadi government decided to
\n\u2018move\u2019 the bank to its temporary capital Aden, and disavow the Bank\u2019s governing
\nbody based in Sana\u2019a, thus ending the truce prevailing on its functioning. This
\nis the precursor to greater disaster for the people of Yemen. <\/p>\n
\na group established on 25 August in Riyadh and composed of the US, Saudi
\nArabia, UAE and the UK, this decision will certainly cause much more suffering
\nfor the Yemeni people everywhere. Although the Gulf Cooperation Council states
\nleading the coalition promise to support the new CBY based in Aden with
\nsubstantial funds, observers are allowed to wonder whether and how promptly these
\npromises will be kept; salaries of most military\/security personnel in some
\nparts of the \u2018liberated\u2019 areas are paid with very considerable delay. Both military
\nand civil personnel on government payrolls are demonstrating daily demanding
\ntheir salaries throughout Yemen, in areas controlled by both sides. The
\neffective paralysing of the Central Bank will only worsen the humanitarian
\ncrisis, as it will make imports of food and medical supplies all the more
\ndifficult. It may even prevent remittances from reaching the thousands of
\nfamilies who are only kept above extreme poverty and starvation by the support
\nthey get from relatives out of Yemen.\u00a0 <\/p>\nMeanwhile, war and
\nthe arms trade<\/strong><\/h2>\n
\nviolent fighting since the breakdown of the peace negotiations in early August.
\nThe Saudi-led coalition air strikes have intensified. The military stalemate
\nhas certainly been a factor in the decision to end the truce on the Central
\nBank, a decision guaranteed to worsen suffering.\u00a0 The death toll mounts, from strikes, from
\nmalnutrition and starvation.\u00a0 The
\ndecision makers, whether Yemeni on both sides, or their supporters now focused
\non the new Gang of four, continue to show total contempt for Yemeni citizens\u2019
\nlives and welfare. The Saudi-led coalition air strikes
\nhave intensified.<\/p>\n
\npressure on the British and US states to stop their sales of weapons and
\nammunition to the leading state in the coalition, Saudi Arabia.\u00a0 Opposition is growing. Both the British
\nParliament and the US Congress are witnessing moves to stop the arms sales;
\nthey have been unsuccessful up to now but at least they are showing concern. It
\nis unlikely that our governments will prioritise the lives and welfare of
\nmillions of Yemenis over short-term profits for the arms trade from sales to
\nGulf Cooperation Council states, and the \u2018jobs\u2019 they provide. High tech jobs
\nwhich could be re-cycled into more peaceful and useful sectors. Britain will
\nsee a Judicial Review of the government\u2019s arms sales policy next January.\u00a0 <\/p>\n
\nofficials of their choosing, demanding an end to the arms sales, demanding that
\ntheir government call for a more even handed resolution at the United Nations
\nSecurity Council which might make peace negotiations more likely to succeed,
\ncalling for an end to this pointless war. You can also help by informing as
\nmany people as you can of the situation, so Yemen stops being the \u2018forgotten\u2019
\nwar. Donations to Medecins Sans Fronti\u00e8res or an alternative NGO of your choice
\nactive in Yemen will certainly be used to alleviate the suffering of a few
\npeople at least. Each of these small actions has a minimal impact, but if
\nenough of us do enough of them, who knows? We may be able to answer our
\nchildren that we put an end to some of the horrors of the second decade of this
\ncentury.<\/p>\n
\n
\nal Maghafi and BBC for permission to use the two stills from her film. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"