The Yemen Situation: A Fight for Truce
Daniel Nicholas Pakpahan for Le Citoyen
Despite the ongoing grave and miserable plight existing for almost 29 months, Yemen never received the much warranted attention by the world, never stepped into the limelight as a headlining humanitarian crisis. People pay too much focus on Syria and its conflicting parties that they forgot there are other parts of the world in dire need of a huge amount of aid as well as attempts on dispute resolution.
Yemen, one of the Arab world’s poorest country, has fallen into civil war since 2015 involving two main belligerents: Houthi forces, who controlled the capital Sana’a, clashing with forces loyal to the Hadi Government, based in Aden and backed by a Saudi-led coalition. There are also other parties involved such as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), dividing the nation into four territories.[1]
Many view this war as the usual ages-old Sunni-Shi’a conflict, which in this case, has proven itself as something far more complicated than that.[2] The complexity of this conflict is what hinders the outside world from grasping the idea of what is happening, although word spreads out frequently through news reports and social media coverages. Apart from the fact that Yemen is a marginalized country with its ruler contributing to the country’s isolation, this war itself is not as simple as a good versus bad contest.
The civil conflict took place long before the replacement of its ruler, Ali Abdullah Saleh, who ruled the country for 33 years, by Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi which is internationally recognized as the legitimate president to date.[3] Saleh’s battle with the Houthi since 2004 ended seven years later after he was forced out of position as his subjects riled with protests against his rule. Hadi’s presidential run did not last long either as he was overthrown, then fleeing to Saudi Arabia when the Houthi took the capital Sana’a in early 2016. Though he remained in exile, his government forces still carried on the struggle against separatists. What confuses many onlookers is that Houthi was again endorsed by Saleh, their old adversary. The introduction of Saudi Arabia-led coalition of ten Sunni countries perturbed the dispute even more, accusing Iran of aiding the Shiite Houthi. This convoluted scene allowed Islamist groups like AQAP and ISIL to move in to the southern port of Aden, a seaport known for its strategic value. Divisions also exist within the Saudi-led coalition at the end of January 2018. United Arab Emirates appears to be financing and politically supporting the separatists according to Yemeni officials,[4] and Hadi, along with his forces are still closely linked and fully backed by Saudi Arabia due to the legitimacy he gives the Saudi’s coalition in Yemen.
Observers of the scene were also astonished (again) by recent turnovers as Houthi and Saleh’s relationship ceased to exist abruptly. Their alliance melted down at the end of November 2017 as Saleh offered to ‘turn a new page’ with the Saudi-led coalition after a dispute over control of Sana’a’s biggest mosque, resulting in dozens of people dead during a shootout between Saleh loyalists and Houthi rebels.[5] Houthis accused Saleh of never believing in the alliance and having attempted a coup against them. Saleh himself was killed during an attack on 4 December 2017 in his convoy in an attempt to flee the capital, an attack launched by his old allies, the Houthi fighters.[6]
Yemen Control Map. Polgeonow.com. 6 January 2018.
Undoubtedly there are grounds to believe manifold war crimes and violations of humanitarian laws were committed throughout the hostilities, something that is still ongoing even until today. UNICEF estimates 1.3 million children under 5 years old at risk of malnutrition and forcing 2 million children out of school.[7] Besides claiming lives of more than 7,600 people with 2,800 of them being civilian casualties, the war has sparked a swelling number of child fighters. Allegedly, all sides of the conflict are using a significant proportion of child soldiers with at least a UN-verified number of 724 children being employed into military activities.[8] Not to forget millions of the population who were displaced and seeking refuge elsewhere.
The lip service provided by the Saudi-led coalition to take great care to avoid collateral damage is proven as nonsense. UN panel of experts on Yemen found ‘widespread and systematic’ attacks on civilian targets carried out by the coalition, another severe violation of international humanitarian law.[9] Added to the list are food insecurities, destruction of civilian infrastructure, acute malnutrition, high diarrhea incidence, cholera outbreak and massive flooding putting Yemen in a brink of famine. These details shed a light into the horror happening in Yemen which is not a conjecture.
No side emerges close to bringing a conclusion after two years of fighting and it may stay that way, crippling the nation even worse in the foreseeable future if the possibility of armistice is not realized. Adequate aid delivery is precarious due to massive costs, high needs, and pressure from Saudi Arabia and Houthi sieges as well. The obstacle is not supply but access and distribution. In many cases aid is not going to the right place and to make sure aid isn’t diverted is a whole another level of predicament.[10]
Further UN peace talks seem to be the only hope for a truce, even though previous talks have proven to be in vain and of no consequence other than the continuation of hostilities.[11] What Yemen needs most importantly is the world to turn its gaze to this tragedy and focus on solutions. The hostilities must end and innocent human lives must be respected as the Geneva Conventions have assured, a string of international conventions and protocols Yemen is a party to since the 1970s.[12] Yemen needs the attention and support from the world to show that a better Yemen is possible.
[1] Laub, Zachary. 2016. “Yemen In Crisis.” Council On Foreign Relations. https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/yemen-crisis.
[2] “Key Facts about the War in Yemen.” 2016. Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/06/key-facts-war-yemen-160607112342462.html.
[3] Slemrod, Annie. 2016. “Why Does No One Care About Yemen?” IRIN. http://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2016/02/11/why-does-no-one-care-about-yemen.
[4] Edroos, Faisal. “Is UAE Pushing South Yemen Towards Secession?” Al Jazeera. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/10/verge-splitting-yemen-171020063508888.html
[5] “Houthi-Saleh Infighting In Sanaa Leaves 14 Dead.” 2017. The New Arab. https://www.alaraby.co.uk/english/news/2017/11/30/houthi-saleh-infighting-in-sanaa-leaves-14-dead
[6] “Yemen Crisis: Who Is Fighting Whom?” 2018. BBC. https://www.bbbc.com/news/world-middle-east-29319423#share-tools
[7] Harneis, Julien. 2016. “War In Yemen Poses Ever-Growing Threat To Children.” UNICEF. https://www.unicef.org/media/media_89793.html.
[8] Alfred, Charlotte. 2017. “How Children Are Forced To The Front Lines Of Yemen’s War.” Huffpost. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/yemen-child-soldiers_us_56a11eece4b0404eb8f09138.
[9] MacAskill, Ewen. 2016. “UN Report Into Saudi-Led Strikes In Yemen Raises Questions Over UK Role.” The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jan/27/un-report-into-saudi-led-strikes-in-yemen-raises-questions-over-uk-role.
[10] Mojalli, Almigdad. 2015. “Fixing Yemen’s Aid Problem.” IRIN. http://www.irinnews.org/report/102296/fixing-yemens-aid-problem.
[11] “Yemen Peace Talks Collapse As Fighting Intensifies.” 2016. Al Jazeera. http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2016/08/yemen-peace-talks-collapse-fighting-intensifies-160807042106210.html.
[12] “Geneva Convention Relative To The Protection Of Civilian Persons In Time Of War.” 2016. United Nations Treaty Collection. https://treaties.un.org/Pages/showDetails.aspx?objid=0800000280158b1a
