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YEMEN: RUNNING OUT OF TIME

Jun. 25, 2020   •   Samiksha Gupta

WAR

The ongoing fighting in Yemen has taken a turn for the worse and a long civil war in this small and strategic Arab country could have a huge global impact. Yemen is perched on the edge of peninsula and form the Babal Mandab, a narrow waterway through which most of the world’s oil passes. So, who controls Yemen could now control the movement of oil around the globe.

Fighting in Yemen is mainly between forces loyal to Sunni president Abd-Rabbu Masour Hadi and a group of rebels from the north known as Houthis. The Houthis are a minority Shia religious group. They formed Alliance with the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, which now controls most of the military. Houthis captured the capital Sanaa in September and forced president Hadi to flee. What’s happening in Yemen is widely seen as a proxy war between Yemen’s neighbor rival countries Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Shia ruled Iran is reportedly backing the Houthi and Sunni ruled Saudi Arabia had been propping up president Hadi.[1]

Saudi Arabia which shares a long border with Yemen has been increasingly concerned about growing Iranian influence in the country but further complicating all this is another entirely separate militant group operating in Yemen, the Sunni Muslim extremists who pledge allegiance to Al-Qaeda, and are fighting their own war against the Government and the Houthis’ rebel and have taken control of the large part of the country. The complicated fight is watched closely by the rest of the world and oil markets.

The Saudi-led intervention was a campaign of relentless air strikes, more than 19,000 attacks in the last four years. Saudi-led forces say that they have been targeting the enemy but rights groups accuse the coalition of bombing dozens of hospitals and schools killing thousands of Yemeni civilians. In this it’s not just the fighting that is causing all the suffering, even aid is being used as a weapon. In 2015, the Saudi-led coalition created a land, sea and air barrier around Yemen making it almost impossible for supplies to get in or out. The Houthis are also blamed for destroying, blocking or taking aid.

The Houthi and Saleh alliance broke down in 2017 after they had fought with Saudi-led forces for three years. In fact, Saleh switched sides on TV saying he wanted to talk to the coalition. Two days later the Houthis killed him. Today the Houthis still control Yemen’s capital Sanna and for now they have an upper hand in the war. [2]

Yemen was already facing the world’s worst humanitarian crisis — after years of conflict between the Houthis rebels and the internationally-recognised Government. The number of deaths in the country which were already wracked by civil war is almost impossible to determine.

Yemen’s humanitarian crisis is man-made. Yemen went from being the heart of ancient Arabia to one of the poorest countries in the middle east and for the last five years it’s been torn apart by the war. Local groups on the ground are fighting each other while a Saudi-led coalition bombs from above and caught in the fight are millions of Yemenis desperately struggling to survive.

The tear and anguish have no end in sight. The country of Yemen has been embroiled in fighting for years and the situation is rapidly reaching a tipping point. Geographically positioned at an important juncture in the Arab world, Yemen is home to several warring factions, all with different goals.

COVID IMPACT

The WHO estimates that at best, at least half of Yemen could be infected with the coronavirus and could become the worst manifestation of the virus because of the country’s dilapidated healthcare system. At least half of the hospitals are not fully functional, with less than 1000 ventilators and ICU beds across the country, according to the WHO. In the situation of Covid-19, it’s feared that Yemen could suffer the greatest catastrophe.

Yemen remains fragmented. Covid-19 has brought Yemen’s health system to a complete collapse. The dead taking more space than the living as the graveyard grow in the southern Yemen. No one knows how many are dying of Covid 19.

People are dying without hope and nobody is doing anything. They are just suffering and dying. The Houthis are trying to hide the number of Yemeni deaths due to the virus, so some are buried in the dead of night by men dressed in white who are fearing for their own life. The Houthis authorities are stating that the situation is under control, which obviously denoted a sense of lie. Every family is being forced to foresee a death due to the virus. Everyone in the country is afraid.

The country’s infrastructure has been devastated by five years of ongoing conflict, leaving little capacity to respond. Only 51% of health centres are fully functional. There is limited medicine, equipment and personal protection equipment available and there are only two testing sites (Sana’aAden and Al Mukalla). Current conflict escalation, displacement and overcrowding make it more difficult to implement protection measures (social spacing, hand washing). Over 3.6 million people have been displaced since the start of the conflict. Over one-third live in camps and informal settlements which are overcrowded and lack proper access to sanitation. Poor media and lack of trust in public institutions make it challenging to deliver behavioural change messaging. Yemen ranks 168 of 180 on the 2019 World Press Freedom index. Yemen relies on imports for 80 to 90% of its basic needs, making it particularly vulnerable to disruptions in the world economy. COVID-19 risks are pulling scarce resources from other lifesaving health responses, including cholera and dengue.[3]

CONCLUSION

This deadly virus is moving undetected across the country twisted in two by a long war and all the old pestilence including cholera. Testing here for Covid-19 remains the lowest in the world. The doctors say that the beds are full, they don’t know where to put the sick and dying. Five years of war in Yemen has greatly limited the capacity of communities and Government to prepare for and respond to the global COVID-19 pandemic.

FAQ:

Q- Which countries are fighting in Yemen?

A-During the Yemeni civil war, Saudi Arabia led an Arab coalition of nine nations from the Middle East and parts of Africa. US, France and the UK were a part of the Saudi-led coalition, which imposed the weapons embargo and blocked all ships from entering Yemen. Oxfam pointed out that Germany, Iran, and Russia have also reportedly sold arms to the conflicting forces. Amnesty International urged the US and the UK to stop supplying arms to Saudi Arabia and to the Saudi-led coalition. It called on the international community, including the United States and United Kingdom to stop "providing arms that could be used in the conflict in Yemen". On August 3, 2019, a United Nations report said the US, UK and France may be complicit in committing war crimes in Yemen by selling weapons and providing support to the Saudi-led coalition which is using the deliberate starvation of civilians as a tactic of warfare.

Profile of the author:

(Sejal Tayal is a law student at MAIMS (School of Law) and has a keen interest in contemporary legal issues)

Disclaimer: This article is an original submission of the Author. Niti Manthan does not hold any liability arising out of this article. Kindly refer to our Terms of use or write to us in case of any concerns.


[1] https://time.com/5843732/yemen-covid19-invisible-crisis/

[2] https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2020/country-chapters/yemen

[3] https://www.acaps.org/special-report/covid-19-impact-yemen-update


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