Yemen: the devastation of a nation, largely ignored
We are waiting to see when we will die” – the words of a resident of the besieged city of Taiz in Yemen, retold by a British Yemeni at a meeting with cross-party MPs in Westminster last week.
Taiz has been under siege by rebels for months, cut off from humanitarian aid, with no electricity, no schools, and where the vast majority of health facilities have closed.
Britain’s international development committee (IDC) had invited representatives of the Yemeni diaspora to contribute to our inquiry into the crisis in Yemen. We were shocked to hear about the desperate situation in Taiz, which bears a worrying resemblance to Madaya in Syria. But the world is watching Syria while the crisis in Yemen is largely ignored.
The crisis is having a devastating effect on the whole country. According to the UN (pdf), an astonishing 82% of the population needs humanitarian assistance – 21.2 million people, compared with 12.2 million in Syria. The food situation is particularly concerning, with 14.4 million people struggling to find enough to eat, including 1.3 million children who are acutely malnourished. Millions cannot access safe water or basic healthcare and 1.8 million children are out of school. The Yemeni diaspora described the situation as collective punishment, with the population being punished for the actions of the rebels.
But who are the rebels and how did this crisis happen? Yemen has a long history of conflict and instability, which had left it the poorest country in the Middle East. The current crisis escalated in March when a Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes to stop the advance of the Houthi rebel group, which had taken control of the capital, Sana’a, and forced the government into exile in Saudi Arabia. It was meant to be a short sharp campaign by the coalition, yet has now dragged on for 10 months, leaving the country in tatters.