Lives lost and homes erased haunt long after the war is over (if ever in the case of Yemen). Amidst explosions, painful shrieks of war-torn people have grown so common, they go unheard, unheeded. Though they know none will win, the government and Houthi rebels keep the fight on, losing more every passing second.
As is usual, recent attempts at truce by UN were answered with violation of ceasefire (which barely lasted a few days). Again each side blames the other for making it worse. Yet again, in this wheel of never-ending war are people stuck, running to save their lives, often getting killed in the process; if they manage to survive they are taken over by disease and misery.
Disease, Death and Displacement
War has turned people of the already poor country into victims of the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Over 20 million Yemenis, that make two-thirds of the country’s population, are food insecure. Over half of Yemen’s districts have gone into ’emergency’ conditions. On top of this, Yemen faces the world’s worst cholera outbreak and has witnessed 2,500 deaths since April 2017. Health facilities fall short of looking after two million malnourished children as half the country’s 3,500 hospitals were blown away.
According to the UN, over 6,800 civilians have been killed and at least 10,700 injured since March 2015. Over three million fled to escape the war. Then there were migrants from Ethiopia on their way to Gulf in search of better livelihood, who got caught in the crossfire, if not killed or trafficked by smugglers.
Unreachable Help
Al Hudaydah, the most populated city in Yemen on the bank of Bab-el-Mandeb, through which oil shipments used to pass, today stands ruined and blockaded. Thus, even necessary health supplies by IRC (International Rescue Committee) UNHRC (United Nation High Commission for Refugees) often doesn’t reach people in need.
World Unaffected
Potentially Yemen crisis can give the West sleepless nights as the threat of attacks stemming from the country becomes more apparent. The power struggle between Shia-ruled Iran (for the Houthi rebels) and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia (for the government in Yemen) evident in the country, can snowball into a formidable international conflict leading to more loss of human life.
Though the international community has remained conveniently indifferent to the suffering here, Britain allegedly supports the Saudi military to fuel the crisis further. Even if human misery doesn’t bother anyone much, the crisis can potentially trigger ripples of distress world over.
The gap needs to be bridged internally through political dialogue and on international level ethically if lives are to be saved. Though the chance of successful negotiation seems thin, both the parties must realise that each will be a loser as more people die, knowing that it’s people – flesh and blood. What they are fighting for won’t matter a spec when all that remains of the country is multitudes of dead bodies.