Yemen, one of the poorest countries of the Arab world, is on the brink of disaster. The coronavirus pandemic is threatening to wipe out the country – which has been in an intractable civil war since 2015 – from the face of the map. Yemen, which has been facing the world’s largest humanitarian crisis for several years now, needs urgent and immediate assistance from the global community.
The Conflict
The civil war can be traced back to the Arab Spring of 2011, when an uprising forced the country’s authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to transfer political power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi. The transition failed and many were left disillusioned with Hadi as he faced incessant problems such as increased militancy, instability, corruption, and the absence of his military’s loyalty. In 2014, Houthi Shia Muslim rebels, supported by many Yemenis, stepped into this power vacuum and initiated armed conflict, eventually taking over the capital Sanaa and forcing Hadi into exile abroad. The conflict escalated dramatically in 2015, when a coalition of Sunni Muslim Arab states, led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the United States, United Kingdom, and France, began air strikes against the Houthi insurgents. Sunni Saudi Arabia was suspicious of Shiite Iran, alleging that Iran was providing Shiite Houthis with weapons and logistical support. Since 2015, the fighting has begotten more fighting, with anti-Houthi separatists and their opponents joining the battleground with Houthi insurgents and Saudi fighters. By 2019, almost 100, 000 civilians had been killed as a result of the war.
The Humanitarian Crisis
In Yemen, 80 percent of the population – more than 24 million people – are in need of humanitarian assistance. Over 20 million people in Yemen are food insecure, and 2 million children under the age of 5 are suffering from acute malnutrition. Yemen is heavily dependent on food imports, and the Saudi-led naval embargo on goods has created a man-made food security crisis. The situation is so dire that the UN says that Yemen is fast headed towards the worst famine in living memory. Due to the instability created by the civil war and frequent drone strikes, Yemenis lack the infrastructure to satisfy their basic needs – there is very limited access to clean drinking water, sanitation facilities, nutrition and healthcare. Unemployment and gender violence are skyrocketing, while millions of children are out of school. The conflict-ridden country has also been ravaged by the world’s largest cholera outbreak since 2016, which, at one point, killed one person every hour. It is a humanitarian, health, and economic catastrophe.
Coronavirus Wreaking Havoc
The United Nations says that the health system in Yemen has, in effect, “collapsed.”
Already besieged by outbreaks of cholera, malaria and dengue, Yemenis had hoped that they had somehow been spared by the coronavirus – by April 1, Yemen had zero reported cases, which perpetuated the optimism. Cases eventually arose and the death toll has been rapidly increasing. There is a debilitating shortage of Personal Protective Equipment kits, COVID-19 tests, and trained healthcare professionals. A negligible stock of ventilators and long, frequent power cuts compound the problem in ill-equipped hospitals. With one of the lowest rates of testing in the world – 31 tests per million people – and the Houthi government’s efforts to suppress the real death toll, it is impossible to get an accurate picture of the devastation caused by the virus. But devastation, there is. An aerial view of a sprawling coronavirus graveyard in the southern city of Aden in this BBC video bears jarring testimony to the havoc being wreaked in the crisis zone.
The world has turned its back on Yemen for far too long. Millions of Yemeni citizens, who have faced unimaginable destruction and death since 2014, are at risk. This is a call to action – spread the word, and don’t let Yemen be forgotten with the next news cycle.
Please consider donating to the funds – UNICEF , Islamic Relief USA , Save the Children
