... Treibstoffmangel im Nordjemen – Die Lage auf Sokotra – MSF-Mediziner und Patienten sprechen – UNICEF-Bericht zu Kindern im Jemen – Schicksal der Migranten im Jemen – und mehr
June 29, 2020: Why You Haven’t Heard About Yemen – Saudi PR: First you bomb, then you send aid – Artificial intelligence against war crimes in court – Fuel shortage in Northern Yemen – The situation at Socotra – MSF staff and patients speak – UNICEF report: Children in Yemen – The fate of migrants in Yemen – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-662b-yemen-war-mosaic-662b
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavitrus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Separatisten und Hadi-Regierung im Südjemen / Separatists and Hadi government in Southern Yemen
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia
cp9 USA
cp9a USA-Iran Krise: Spannungen am Golf / US-Iran crisis: Tensions at the Gulf
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12b Sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade
cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner
cp13c Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp13d Wirtschaft / Economy
cp15 Propaganda
cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids
cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War
cp18 Kampf um Hodeidah / Hodeidah battle
cp19 Sonstiges / Other
Klassifizierung / Classification
***
**
*
(Kein Stern / No star)
? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating
A = Aktuell / Current news
B = Hintergrund / Background
C = Chronik / Chronicle
D = Details
E = Wirtschaft / Economy
H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions
K = Krieg / War
P = Politik / Politics
pH = Pro-Houthi
pS = Pro-Saudi
T = Terrorismus / Terrorism
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
Ältere einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:
Yemen War: Older introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke
Neue Artikel / New articles
(* B H K)
Film: Yemen crisis: Five years of hunger, five years of war
Salwa al Odabei is the same age as Yemen's five-year civil war, and has brain damage caused by the malnutrition she has suffered since she was two months old.
Her parents are among the two million Yemenis who have been forced to flee their homes because of the conflict, and her father says the family can’t pay for any more medical treatment.
The country faces the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with the coronavirus pandemic compounding the effects of the war.
(B H K)
Film von UNICEF: 5 Fakten zum Jemen-Konflikt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI1PxB70-Pg
(B H K)
Film: Hungerkatastrophe - Unicef warnt-Jemen: Krieg, Hunger und Covid-19
2,4 Millionen Kinder sind im Jemen von Unterernährung bedroht, warnt das UN-Kinderhilfswerk Unicef. Wegen Covid-19 bleiben Hilfsgüter aus. Das trifft vor allem die Kinder hart
https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/video/politik-jemen-unicef-hungersnot-100.html = https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=284671015977672
(* B K P)
Film by Rania Khalek: 10 million in Yemen on the brink of starvation and... crickets Why? Bc the US and its allies are responsible for the majority of the suffering. It benefits western geopolitical interests to keep this war & all the misery that comes with it under wraps.
https://twitter.com/RaniaKhalek/status/1276693377321521153
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B P)
Why You Haven’t Heard About Yemen
So why aren’t we hearing about Yemen? Perhaps because the US is partly responsible for the crisis.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest importer of weapons and the US is its biggest supplier.
So once again, why aren’t we hearing about Yemen?
Because Yemen is a perfect example of Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman’s victims theory.
The theory stipulates that, in the eyes of news organizations, there are worthy and unworthy victims. In the twenty-first century, worthy victims are generally Westerners who are killed or severely injured in terrorist attacks (e.g. victims of 9/11) while unworthy victims are non-Westerners who are killed by Western military operations (e.g. Yemeni civilians.)
Essentially, atrocities committed by the US are far less likely to be covered than those committed by other, non-Western nations.
And while major Western news outlets may cover deadly airstrikes in Yemen, they largely avoid discussing US and Saudi military relations. An Associated Press piece, for example, covered a Saudi coalition airstrike that killed 13 Yemeni civilians earlier this month, but failed to mention that the US government provides weapons and intelligence to the coalition.
With that in mind, reporting on Yemen requires American journalists to confront the dark reality that the US is complicit in war crimes against the Yemenis. It requires them to dig deep into America’s long, unsavory and bloody history in the Middle East and examine our relationship with the Saudi Arabian government, which has a nauseating record of human rights violations.
It is much easier to ignore the truth than it is to confront it.
But the crisis in Yemen grows increasingly grim. They need humanitarian assistance and for US involvement to end now.
Journalists hold the key to public knowledge. They dictate to the public what is important to know about and what is not.
Yemen desperately needs public awareness and aid right now. Otherwise, they might not survive.
http://www.mediafiledc.com/why-you-havent-heard-about-yemen/
(** B P)
First You Bomb and Starve a Country. Then You’re Praised for Sending in Aid.
The perverse diplomatic charade of Saudi Arabia starting a fire then getting credit for providing fire blankets.
The United Nations describes itself in its charter as an international moral authority created to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.” But activists who are trying to end the U.S. war on Yemen say that, in a dark twist on this mission, the international body is withholding criticism from the U.S.-Saudi military coalition, and effusively praising its leaders, to avoid jeopardizing donations to humanitarian funds aimed at helping ease the suffering created by that war. As Jehan Hakim, the chair of the Yemeni Alliance Committee, puts it, “The same hand we're asking to feed Yemen is the same hand that is helping bomb them.”
On June 15, UN Secretary-General António Guterres removed the U.S.-Saudi military coalition, which has been waging war in Yemen for more than five years, from an international blacklist of states and armed groups responsible for killing and maiming children, in a huge P.R. win for Saudi Arabia. He cited a supposed decrease in child killings, even as he acknowledged the coalition was responsible for killing 222 children last year, 171 of them from bombings—a number that certainly does not include the toll of famine and disease outbreaks (including Covid-19) worsened by the war and blockade. The UN’s move provoked instant rebuke from anti-war and humanitarian organizations.
Hassan El-Tayyab, lead lobbyist on Middle East policy for the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a progressive lobby organization, tells In These Times that the move has a simple explanation. “To me,” he says, “it's really clear what they're trying to do: They’re trying to curry favor so that Saudi Arabia will pony up more money for Yemen to keep humanitarian aid going.”
El-Tayyab’s theory is supported by a number of indicators.
But there are more recent indicators to draw on. On June 2, the UN co-hosted a virtual donors’ summit with Saudi Arabia to raise money for humanitarian relief in Yemen, which is being devastated by Covid-19, in large part because the U.S.-Saudi coalition has decimated its hospital system, and a Saudi-led blockade is cutting off critical medical supplies. Guterres, who made the recent decision to scrub Saudi Arabia from the blacklist, gave the opening remarks for the event. “I thank the Government of Saudi Arabia for co-hosting this pledging event, and for your continued commitment to humanitarian aid to the people of Yemen,” he said.
Saudi Arabia was the highest donor at the event, pledging a token $500 million in aid, the exact amount of money Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Prince Mohammed bin Salman, spent on his personal yacht. The United States pledged $225 million, or less than the cost of three of the numerous F35 fighter jets the U.S. military has purchased from Lockheed Martin.
These numbers also pale in comparison to the value of the arms the United States ships to Saudi Arabia—amounting to at least $3 billion in 2019—despite calls for a global embargo due to Saudi atrocities in Yemen. Yet the event, the global equivalent of a GoFundMe campaign for Yemen aid, fell $1 billion short of its goal, or roughly the equivalent of only two of the Leonardo Da Vinci paintings bin Salman bought for himself in 2017.
El-Tayyab says he is concerned about whether the U.S. aid that was pledged will be sent to Houthi-held areas, where a majority of Yemen’s population lives. “We don't know if the aid is going to get to north Yemen,” he said.
Shireen Al-Adeimi, Yemeni-American anti-war activist, board member of Just Foreign Policy, and frequent contributor to In These Times, agreed with El-Tayyab’s explanation for why the coalition was removed from the UN blacklist. According to Al-Adeimi, the UN lives in fear that the very countries responsible for unleashing humanitarian crises will withdraw funding for humanitarian aid.
One could argue that the UN is forced to perform ethical gymnastics, due the Trump administration’s abrupt withdrawal of tens of millions of dollars in assistance from USAID, the World Food Programme’s 50% cut to aid in Houthi-held areas, and threats to close critical UN-run food aid programs in Yemen, all as Covid-19 is battering the country. The UN has no choice, therefore, but to do what any fundraiser must do: cavort with unsavory donors, and flatter the wealthy in hopes that they will keep the organization afloat.
But the UN is not just a passive observer of the Yemen war: By shielding the United States and Saudi Arabia from even the most modest political consequences for a war that has unleashed the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, it has used its institutional power to enable this onslaught. In 2015, just six months into the war, Saudi Arabia launched a diplomatic campaign to prevent the UN from launching a human rights investigation, abetted by the silence of the Obama administration. This effort was ultimately successful. What if it had not been: Imagine if, more than five years ago, the war had been roundly denounced on the global stage – by Sarah Lazare
http://inthesetimes.com/article/22624/first-you-bomb-and-starve-a-country.-then-youre-praised-for-sending-in-aid = https://www.jacobinmag.com/2020/06/saudi-arabia-war-yemen-united-nations-aid = https://jacobinmag.com/2020/06/saudi-arabia-war-yemen-united-nations-aid
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Human rights activists want to use AI to help prove war crimes in court
It would take years for humans to scour the tens of thousands of hours of footage that document violations in Yemen. With machine learning, it takes just days.
organizations have increasingly turned to crowdsourced mobile photos and videos to understand the conflict, and have begun submitting them to court to supplement eyewitness evidence.
But as digital documentation of war scenes has proliferated, the time it takes to analyze it has exploded. The disturbing imagery can also traumatize the investigators who must comb through and watch the footage. Now an initiative that will soon mount a challenge in the UK court system is trialing a machine-learning alternative. It could model a way to make crowdsourced evidence more accessible and help human rights organizations tap into richer sources of information.
The initiative, led by Swansea University in the UK along with a number of human rights groups, is part of an ongoing effort to monitor the alleged war crimes happening in Yemen and create greater legal accountability around them. In 2017, the platform Yemeni Archive began compiling a database of videos and photos documenting the abuses. Content was gathered from thousands of sources—including submissions from journalists and civilians, as well as open-source videos from social-media platforms like YouTube and Facebook—and preserved on a blockchain so they couldn’t be tampered with undetected.
Along with the Global Legal Action Network (GLAN), a nonprofit that sues states for human rights violations, the investigators then began curating evidence of specific human rights violations into a separate database and mounting legal cases in various domestic and international courts. “If things are coming through courtroom accountability processes, it’s not enough to show that this happened,” says Yvonne McDermott Rees, a professor at Swansea University and the initiative’s lead. “You have to say, ‘Well, this is why it’s a war crime.’ That might be ‘You’ve used a weapon that’s illegal,’ or in the case of an air strike, ‘This targeted civilians’ or ‘This was a disproportionate attack.’”
In this case, the partners are focusing on a UK-manufactured cluster munition, the BLU-63. The use and sale of cluster munitions, explosive weapons that spray out smaller explosives on impact, are banned by 108 countries, including the UK.
So they decided to develop a machine-learning system to detect all instances of the BLU-63 in the database. But images of BLU-63s are rare precisely because they are illegal, which left the team with little real-world data to train their system. As a remedy, the team created a synthetic data set by reconstructing 3D models of the BLU-63 in a simulation.
While Harvey is still in the middle of generating more training examples—he estimates he will need over 2,000—the existing system already performs well: over 90% of the videos and photos it retrieves from the database have been verified by human experts to contain BLU-63s
Human experts would still need to verify the footage after the system filters it, but the gain in efficiency changes the game for human rights organizations looking to mount challenges in court.
“When you’re looking at, for example, the targeting of hospitals, having one video that shows a hospital being targeted is strong; it makes a case,” says Jeff Deutch, the lead researcher at Syrian Archive, who also launched Yemeni Archive. “But if you can show hundreds of videos of hundreds of incidents of hospitals being targeted, you can see that this is really a deliberate strategy of war. When things are seen as deliberate, it becomes more possible to identify intent. And intent might be something useful for legal cases in terms of accountability for war crimes.”
As the Yemen collaborators prepare to submit their case, evidence on this scale will be particularly relevant. The Saudi-led air-strike coalition has already denied culpability in previous allegations of war crimes, which the UK government recognizes as the official record. The UK courts also dismissed an earlier case that GLAN submitted to stop the government from selling weapons to Saudi Arabia – by Karen Hao
(** B E P)
Queue through the night: Yemen sees severe fuel shortage in Houthi-held areas
Residents, hospitals suffer under intermittent fuel supply, as Houthis accuse Saudi-led coalition of preventing fuel offloading in Hodeidah port
According to the vice chairman of the Red Sea Ports Corporation, Yahyah Sharafaddin, the last ship to offload in Yemen's Hodeidah seaport was on 20 May.
Rebel Houthis have accused the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition allied to it of preventing 22 fuel ships from offloading in the strategic port, saying these ships had been given permission by the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism for Yemen (UNVIM) to do so.
Djibouti-based UNVIM was set up in 2015, as the coalition accused the Houthis of smuggling Iranian missiles and arms through Yemeni ports under their control, including through Hodeidah, a charge both the Houthis and Tehran deny.
Speaking to Al-Sahat TV Channel, a spokesperson for the Yemeni Petroleum Company in Sanaa described the situation as "a kind of siege on Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition" and called for the UN and international community to intervene.
The black market does supply fuel, but at YR20,000 for 40 litres the price is out of range for most bus drivers. At regular petrol stations, the same amount would cost YR5,900.
On Thursday, 24 hospitals in seven provinces in Yemen issued a statement saying that they were running out of fuel supply.
Without fuel, the hospital cannot run generators necessary to keep surgical equipment and operating rooms going, putting thousands of lives at risk as a result, especially during a coronavirus pandemic, which the UN refugee agency said last month could push Yemen closer to a "potential breaking point".
The hospitals called on the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations to intervene and release the detained fuel ships.
The fuel shortage has also led to the doubling of water prices, as both water pumps and water trucks are now running less frequently.
Mohammed Ibrahim, a water truck driver, told MEE that he could no longer sell water at the same price as before, or else he would be unable to make ends meet.
Most residents depend on water trucks to supply them with clean water from wells in the outskirts of cities.
"I can summarise the increase of water prices in one sentence. If the fuel is expensive or hard to get it, everything else will be expensive and the situation will be bad," Ibrahim said, adding that he hoped the warring sides can reach an agreement to solve the fuel crisis in Houthi-controlled areas.
People bear the brunt
The Saudi-led coalition is trying to evade responsibility for detaining the fuel ships by sending fuel trailers in their place, said the general executive manager of the oil company in Sanaa, Amar al-Adhroei.
In a Facebook post, he explained why the Houthis have not allowed the 250 fuel trailers coming from Aden to enter areas under their control.
"Ninety-percent of the vehicles aren't fuel trucks but normal cars carrying tanks filled with fuel, and only 20 percent of the fuel meets specifications," Adhroei said.
He added that there are only 800,000 litres of fuel in the fuel trailers coming from Aden, much lower than the 10,200,000 litres required per day.
Adhroei insisted that the Saudi-led coalition is responsible for this crisis, as it is still preventing fuel ships from offloading in Hodeidah.
However, some Yemenis called the Houthi's reason for blocking the fuel trailers a "joke".
"We buy petrol from the black market, and usually this petrol is mixed with water and other materials. Does this meet their specifications? This is just a pretext by the Houthis to prevent the fuel trailers from entering, and then to create a fuel crisis so the world will feel sympathy for them," said Mohammed, a Sanaa resident.
"My message to the Houthis is to let the fuel trailers enter their areas without silly statements, and my message to the coalition is to lift the siege on Yemen and let ships offload fuel in Hodeidah," he said.
As for Haimi, the bus driver, politics don't mean much as long as he can get access to petrol.
"Petrol means work, and work means a good life. Without enough petrol our life will only get worse," he said.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-severe-fuel-shortage-houthi-areas
(** B K P)
Yemen in Focus: Allies turn rivals on strategic Socotra island
But escalating tensions came to a boil last week when pro-STC forces seized all key government and military locations on Socotra island, declared self-administrative authority, and appointed its own acting governor.
The move, though carried out by a small number of fighters with little bloodshed, proved to be a significant turning point in the more than five-year conflict, prompting severe criticism of the Saudi-led coalition by government officials who accused it of "betrayal".
Shortly after, pro-Saudi media was ripe with reports of alleged Turkish-Qatari-Muslim Brotherhood activities in Yemen, noting the takeover had curbed the axis' "growing influence" on the island.
However, Yemen experts and political analysts have dismissed the claims as mere excuses by the coalition designed to sow discord.
"There's no Turkish presence in Socotra. Islah doesn't control the archipelago either. There's no Houthi presence there as well," Yemen and Gulf analyst at the Middle East Institute, Ibrahim Jalal, told The New Arab.
"These are redundant excuses to mask foreign interests. The expelled governor was a young, socialist politician from Socotra itself, where the UAE, among others, has crystal clear strategic interests evident in its April 2018 deployment of heavy arms and troops that further strained Yemeni-Emirati relations," Jalal added.
The infighting has emerged as a second front in a country already split by a five-year war between Houthi rebels, who control the capital Sanaa and the north, and the government, which was forced south to the interim capital of Aden.
"Socotra and other regions in South Yemen face deep political divisions," Mohammed Albasha of the US-based Navanti Group told The New Arab.
"Navanti Group's latest polling of public opinion in Socotra tells the story of a divided house between those who support the ROYG and those who support the STC. In principle Socotra's remoteness should have isolated the island from the civil war on the mainland. However, the presence of competing political parties have torn Socotra's social and political fabric," he added.
But the reasons for bypassing Yemen's internationally-recognised government, as well as its sovereignty, have remained vague and a former diplomat who spoke to The New Arab on condition of anonymity blamed it on the lack of leadership.
"The absence of Hadi created a vacuum that has allowed everyone free reign to play, and it signifies the collapse of Hadi's authority even as a symbolic president," the source said. Meanwhile, Jalal believes it to be a strategy to push for stalled agreements.
"The actor that green-lighted the Abyan battle in May to pressure the UAE-backed STC tacitly approved the latter's takeover of Hadibo, Socotra, to pressure the government to renew talks on the stalled Riyadh Agreement," Jalal said, in comments that were recently solidified with an announced de-escalation meeting in Saudi Arabia between members of the bickering allies.
Yemen's cabinet demanded authorities on the ground launch reviews of regional and foreign organisations operating in Yemen that are practicing political discord under the cover of charity, the official SABA News Agency reported.
The cabinet confirmed the organisations under review are operating without licenses from relevant authorities, though it failed to name them.
However, a government source revealed to The New Arab's Arabic-language sister platform, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that the list includes the UAE's Khalifa Bin Zayed Al-Nahyan Foundation, which has an office on the embattled Socotra island. The organisation does not have offices in any other city in mainland Yemen where the conflict has affected millions of civilians.
Other foreign organisations including some from Turkey, the source revealed – by Sana Uqba
(** B H)
Behind the Conflict in Yemen: MSF staff and patients’ voices heard
The accounts of both patients and staff in MSF’s Mother and Child hospital in Taiz Al Houban, demonstrate the gravity of this issue...
Health.. inaccessible"
"One day, we received a patient suffering from pre-eclampsia and hypertension, and she arrived with acute complications. When we asked about reason for such complications, we understood that this was primarily due to the far distance the patient had traveled. We inquired more about the story from the mother of the patient, and we understood that the patient was transported in a coffin through the bumpy mountainous road in a journey that took three hours. They had heard about MSF’s hospital and they were happy to have reached it in the end. Thank God, the patient’s condition improved after, and this is one story I will not be able to forget."
Dr. Hana,GP and pediatrics
Things were far better before this war started, we were at comfort, at peace of mind. There was security, safety and stability. Nowadays, everyone lives in fear. When I fall ill, I avoid going out to a health facility because the distance is far. In the past, if you wanted to visit your parents or family, it would take only an hour, but nowadays, you leave your house in the morning and arrive to your destination at dusk.
I gave birth to my child in the village, in a health centre. There, I was told my son requires medical attention, nutritional support. There are only medical clinics in our area, no hospitals available, so we drove for around 2 hours to arrive to this hospital. I have been in this hospital for four days now. Even a simple walk tires me. I am still recovering from the trip – it was very exhausting, especially for me being pregnant and with that difficult road condition."
Balqees, patient
"I have seen many mothers in this hospital, but there were two particular cases that remain in my mind to this day.
They were two mothers who passed away in our hospital. They had arrived from other centers where there was limited qualified medical staff there. There was a female staff - who it seems - was working as midwife but had little medical expertise. She helped in the delivery of two women, but unfortunately the women were bleeding a lot and she couldn’t control this bleeding, and both women arrived in our hospital in a state of shock, at the very last stage.
One of the caretakers was a 14-year old daughter, she was crying a lot, saying that if the distance had not been this long, she would not have lost her mother. It was very difficult to console the father and the little daughter at the same time, and what could you possible say to console them and take away that pain? It was a heartbreaking moment."
Taghreed, OT nurse
"The war has turned our lives upside down. From stability to displacement, and from tranquility to preparedness. What is it like to be prepared at all times to travel or to be displaced again at any point? It is a terrifying feeling. This feeling describes war. That is what I feel - that I have to be prepared to leave at any time; prepared my bag, prepared my documents, prepared my children as well. Because war may come again any time, and I would have to exit and leave everything behind me. It is a state of permanent preparedness and constant anxiety."
Dr. Rasheed, doctor in trauma centre (photos, films)
https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/ec0fbd1cb3124461b842d6b0f3f99059
(** B H)
KINDER IM JEMEN VON TÖDLICHEM HUNGER BEDROHT: UNICEF-REPORT ZU FÜNF JAHREN BÜRGERKRIEG IM JEMEN
UNICEF warnt: Weil Hilfsgelder fehlen und sich Covid-19 ausbreitet, könnte die Zahl mangelernährter Kinder im Jemen bis Ende des Jahres auf 2,4 Millionen ansteigen
Millionen Kinder im Jemen drohen in den kommenden Monaten an den Rand einer Hungersnot zu geraten, weil dringend benötigte Gelder für humanitäre Hilfe fehlen. Fünf Jahre nach dem Beginn des Konflikts warnt UNICEF in dem heute veröffentlichten Bericht „Jemen fünf Jahre danach: Kinder, Konflikt und Covid-19“ davor, dass sich die katastrophale Situation der jemenitischen Kinder noch erheblich verschlechtern könnte. Das zerstörte Gesundheitssystem und die Infrastruktur des Landes sind mit der Covid-19-Pandemie vollkommen überfordert.
Die Folgen für Kinder sind dramatisch:
In den kommenden sechs Monaten könnten im Jemen weitere 30.000 Kinder von lebensbedrohlicher, schwerer akuter Mangelernährung betroffen sein. Die Zahl der mangelernährten Kinder unter fünf Jahren könnte auf insgesamt 2,4 Millionen ansteigen – das entspricht fast der Hälfte aller Kinder unter fünf Jahren im Land.
Bis Ende des Jahres könnten weitere 6.600 Kinder unter fünf Jahren an vermeidbaren Ursachen sterben.* Das Gesundheitssystem steht kurz vor dem Zusammenbruch. Nach Jahren des Konflikts ist nur die Hälfte der Gesundheitseinrichtungen funktionsfähig, zudem fehlen Medikamente, Ausstattung und Personal.
Der mangelnde Zugang zu Wasser und sanitären Einrichtungen fördert die Ausbreitung des Coronavirus. Rund 9,58 Millionen Kinder haben keinen ausreichenden Zugang zu sauberem Wasser, sanitären Anlagen oder Hygiene.
Weil Schulen geschlossen sind, haben 7,8 Millionen Kinder keinen Zugang zu Bildung.
Weil Kinder nicht mehr zum Unterricht gehen können und sich gleichzeitig die wirtschaftliche Lage verschlechtert, wächst das Risiko für Kinderarbeit, Kinderehen oder dafür, dass Mädchen und Jungen von bewaffneten Gruppierungen oder dem Militär rekrutiert werden. Die Vereinten Nationen haben in den letzten fünf Jahren allein 3.467 Kinder registriert, die von bewaffneten Streitkräften oder Gruppen rekrutiert und eingesetzt wurden – einige von ihnen waren erst zehn Jahre alt.
„Man kann das ganze Ausmaß dieser weltweit schlimmsten humanitären Krise kaum übertreiben. Kinder kämpfen um ihr Überleben, während Covid-19 im Land Einzug hält", sagte Sara Beysolow Nyanti, Leiterin von UNICEF Jemen. „Wenn wir dringend benötigte Finanzmittel nicht erhalten, werden die Kinder an den Rand einer Hungersnot gedrängt und viele werden sterben. Die internationale Gemeinschaft wird damit die Botschaft aussenden, dass es auf das Leben von Kindern in einem Land, das durch Konflikt, Krankheiten und dem wirtschaftlichen Kollaps zerstört wurde, einfach nicht ankommt.“
und kürzerer Artikel: https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000118328968/zahl-mangelernaehrter-kinder-unter-im-jemen-koennte-2-4-millionen?ref=rss
(** B H K)
Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19
Yemeni children face deadly hunger and aid shortages as COVID-19 pandemic spreads - UNICEF
Number of malnourished children could reach 2.4 million by end of year, a 20 per cent increase
Millions of children in Yemen could be pushed to ‘the brink of starvation’ due to huge shortfalls in humanitarian aid funding amid the COVID-19 pandemic – according to a new UNICEF report marking more than five years since conflict escalated in the country.
Yemen five years on: Children, conflict and COVID-19 warns that as Yemen’s devastated health system and infrastructure struggle to cope with coronavirus, the already dire situation for children is likely to deteriorate considerably. The report shows that:
An additional 30,000 children could develop life-threatening severe acute malnutrition over the next six months, and the overall number of malnourished children under the age of five could increase to a total of 2.4 million –almost half of all under-fives in the country and a rise of around 20 per cent;
An additional 6,600 children under the age of five could die from preventable causes by the end of the year – an increase of 28 per cent*;
The health system is teetering closer to collapse. After years of conflict, only half of health facilities are operational, with huge shortages in medicine, equipment and staff;
Poor access to water and sanitation is stoking the spread of COVID-19. Around 9.58 million children do not have sufficient access to safe water, sanitation, or hygiene.
With schools closed, 7.8 million children are not able to access education.
Widespread absence from class and a worsening economy could put children at greater risk of child labour, recruitment into armed groups and child marriage. The United Nations has recorded 3,467 children, some as young as ten years old, recruited and used by armed forces and groups over the last five years.
“We cannot overstate the scale of this emergency as children, in what is already the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, battle for survival as COVID-19 takes hold,” said Sara Beysolow Nyanti, UNICEF Representative to Yemen. “If we do not receive urgent funding, children will be pushed to the brink of starvation and many will die. The international community will be sending a message that the lives of children in a nation devastated by conflict, disease and economic collapse, simply do not matter.”
The report warns that unless US$54.5 million is received for health and nutrition services by the end of August:
23,500 children with severe acute malnutrition will be at increased risk of dying;
Up to one million children will not receive vital micronutrient supplements and vitamin A, and 500,000 pregnant and breastfeeding mothers will miss out on essential nutrition support including counselling on infant and young child feeding, and folic acid and iron supplements;
Five million children under the age of five years will not be immunised against killer diseases; 19 million people will lose access to healthcare, including one million pregnant and breastfeeding mothers and their children;
The report also highlights that crucial water and sanitation services for three million children and their communities will begin to shut down from the end of July, unless US$45 million is secured. This will further negatively impact the more than two million exceptionally vulnerable malnourished children, risking a disastrous decline in their nutrition status if aid supplies are interrupted.
In total UNICEF is appealing for US$461 million for its humanitarian response in Yemen, with an additional US$53 million for its COVID-19 response alone. So far, the COVID appeal is only ten per cent funded and the humanitarian appeal is only 39 per cent funded.
UNICEF is working with the World Health Organization and the authorities across Yemen to get life-saving aid to children in desperate need, including:
Maintaining general health services and humanitarian programmes for children across the country – including providing safe water and sanitation, supporting education and keeping vulnerable children safe from harm;
Working to suppress COVID-19 transmission at community level by reaching more than 16 million people with key prevention messages through TV, radio and social media;
Procuring, transporting and distributing supplies for the pandemic;
Saving lives by training 30,000 health workers in infection prevention and control and distributing thousands of hygiene kits.
“UNICEF is working around the clock in incredibly difficult situations to get aid to children in desperate need, but we only have a fraction of the funding required to do this,” said Nyanti. “Children in Yemen need lasting peace and stability in their country. Until that is achieved, we must do everything we can to save lives and protect childhoods.”
https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/yemeni-children-face-deadly-hunger-and-aid-shortages-covid-19-pandemic-spreads = https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20five%20years%20on_REPORT%20.pdf
and report in full: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/Yemen%20five%20years%20on_REPORT%20.pdf
(** B H K P)
African migrants in Yemen are being scapegoated for the coronavirus outbreak
Migrants say Houthi militias that control northern Yemen are brutally forcing them out of their territory and into dangerous situations.
The Yemeni militiamen rumbled up to the settlement of Al Ghar in the morning, firing their machine guns at the Ethiopian migrants caught in the middle of somebody else’s war. They shouted at the migrants: Take your coronavirus and leave the country or face death.
Fatima Mohammed’s baby, Naa’if, was screaming. She grabbed him and ran behind her husband as bullets streaked overhead.
“The sound of the bullets was like thunder that wouldn’t stop,” said Kedir Jenni, 30, an Ethiopian waiter who also fled Al Ghar, near the Saudi border in northern Yemen, on that morning in early April. “Men and women get shot next to you. You see them die and move on.”
This scene and others were recounted in phone interviews with a half-dozen migrants now in Saudi prisons. Their accounts could not be independently verified, but human rights groups have corroborated similar episodes.
The Houthis, the Iran-backed militia that controls most of northern Yemen, have driven thousands of migrants out of their territory at gunpoint over the past three months, blaming them for spreading the coronavirus, and dumped them in the desert without food or water.
Others were forced to the border with Saudi Arabia, the Houthis’ primary foe, only to be shot at by Saudi border guards and detained in prisons where they were beaten, given little food and forced to sleep on the same floor that they use as a toilet, migrants said in interviews from prison. Some have returned to abusive smugglers, determined to cross the border to find jobs in oil-rich Saudi Arabia.
Humanitarian officials and researchers say the African migrant workers who traverse Yemen every year endure torture, rape, extortion, bombs and bullets in their desperation to get to Saudi Arabia. This spring, when the pandemic made them convenient scapegoats for Yemen’s troubles, they lost even that slender hope.
“COVID is just one tragedy inside so many other tragedies that these migrants are facing,” said Afrah Nasser, a Yemen researcher at Human Rights Watch.
More than 100,000 Ethiopians, Somalis and other East Africans board overstuffed smugglers’ boats across the Red Sea or the Gulf of Aden to Yemen every year, according to the United Nations, hoping to make their way north to support their families with jobs as domestic servants, animal herders or laborers in the wealthy Gulf countries whose economies depend on migrants.
The journey is murderous at every stage
'Slaughter valleys'
UN surveys show that most migrants do not know about the fighting in Yemen before they arrive, but crossfire and coalition airstrikes find them anyway. At border crossings, Saudi guards shoot and kill them, littering what the migrants call “slaughter valleys” with bodies, migrants and humanitarian officials say. Those who survive are often detained by Saudi authorities and deported.
A Saudi official, who asked not to be named, said allegations of mistreatment of migrants who cross the border illegally are not true and would be an affront to Saudi values.
Since borders clamped shut during the pandemic, the flow of migrants to Yemen has nearly evaporated, plummeting from 18,904 in May 2019 to 1,195 this May, according to the UN But at least 14,500 remain in the country. Many arrived in years past and stayed to scrape together a living or save up before trying to go on to Saudi Arabia.
When the Houthis stormed into town in April, Jenni said, he fled in his flip-flops, shoving $1,300 — all his savings — into his underwear.
Some of the migrants who ran from Al Ghar toward Saudi Arabia on 8 April estimated that the Houthis shot and killed at least 250 migrants that day. Another migrant, Ali Mohammed, 28, who recounted being chased off a farm in nearby Al Haydan, said only 57 of the 200 Ethiopians with him survived.
At one point in April, humanitarian officials estimate, the Houthis left more than 20,000 migrants — mostly Ethiopians, many of them women — stranded in the “slaughter valleys” along the border. About 7,000 are believed to be there now. There is little food, water or aid. The number of dead is unknown.
A half-dozen migrants interviewed by phone from prisons in Saudi Arabia said Saudi police stripped the men to their underwear and took the women’s bags. They hit Jenni in the chest with the butt of a gun and forced him to hand over his money, he said: Four years of savings, gone.
Then they were driven to Saudi prisons, husbands separated from wives and children – by Vivian Yee and Tiksa Negeri
https://www.sbs.com.au/news/african-migrants-in-yemen-are-being-scapegoated-for-the-coronavirus-outbreak = https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/28/world/middleeast/coronavirus-yemen-african-migrants.html
Photos: https://twitter.com/Afrahnasser/status/1277181227766865920
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
(* A H)
Death toll from COVID-19 surpasses 300 in Yemen
The Aden-based Supreme National Emergency Committee for COVID-19 has recorded 15 new coronavirus cases in areas under the control of Yemen’s internationally recognized government, totaling 1118 cases.
“15 new COVID-19 cases were recorded as follows: 7 cases in Hadhramaut, 5 cases in Aden, and 3 cases in Taiz {….},” the committee said on Twitter.
According to the supreme committee, the death toll from the novel coronavirus has exceeded 300 cases as the recovery cases reached 430
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/24677
(A H)
15 new cases of coronavirus reported, 1118 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23410
(A H)
Head of Yemeni Community in Saudi Arabia Dies from COVID-19
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23413
(A H)
14 new cases of coronavirus reported, 1103 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23404
(A H)
Latest developments of #Corona virus in southern governorates
https://en.smanews.org/latest-developments-of-corona-virus-in-southern-governorates
(A H)
Taiz Emergency Committee Announces 3 New Infections With Corona Virus
https://www.adennews.net/en/112774
(A H)
13 new cases of coronavirus reported, 1089 in total
http://en.adenpress.news/news/23393
(A H)
Sixty one new confirmed positive cases of #COVID19 and 14 deaths reported by @YSNECCOVID19
https://twitter.com/mohammedalqadhi/status/1276259835391078400
(* B H P)
UN experts* call for further and swifter measures to combat the spread of COVID-19, particularly in detention facilities in Yemen
The Group of Eminent International and Regional Experts on Yemen, today urged all parties to the conflict in Yemen to take further measures to fight the spread of COVID-19, in particular to undertake further releases of persons deprived of their liberty ('detainees').
However, given the appalling overcrowding in detention facilities and the scarcity of adequate health services, the Group of Experts calls for the immediate release of all persons most at risk of being infected. These include all pregnant women, children, persons with disabilities, elderly persons, and those who are sick. The Group also recommends the release of low-risk offenders, detainees held on remand, and those nearing the end of their sentences, as well as others who can be safely reintegrated into society.
Recalling the Group's call made in its 2019 Report submitted to the Human Rights Council, Mr. Kamel Jendoubi, Chairperson of the Group, also said "all persons detained in a manner contrary to international human rights and humanitarian law should be released immediately, including members of the Baha'i community, and those subject to an order of release granted by judicial authorities, such as journalists". He also welcomed commitments made by authorities to further releases.
The Group of Experts is aware of the need for relevant authorities to consider public safety as well as security imperatives in their decision-making about the release of detainees. This has particular application to persons who have committed violent crimes, as well as the detention of persons whose activities pose a serious threat to the security of the detaining authority in relation to an armed conflict. However, it calls on all parties to take adequate measures, in line with international standards, to limit the risk of exposure to COVID-19 for those who remain in detention.
The Group of Experts stresses the importance of all parties to the conflict adopting measures, recognising the potentially catastrophic effect for persons in detention and the broader community if the virus were to spread further in Yemen, given the significant limitations of the Yemeni health system.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=25994&LangID=E
(B H)
Yemen WASH Cluster COVID-19 Bulletin, 16 June 2020 [EN/AR]
WASH is a key preventative measure in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and is one of the principal public health recommendations.
The severity of the current response to COVID-19 poses grave detrimental impacts on WASH service provision and sustainability if not adequately mitigated. Equitable access to WASH commodities and services must be protected and extended for all, without any form of discrimination by nationality, income or ethnicity.
Key Messages:
A WASH Response is a COVID Response
Scale up Community prevention; Shielding high-risk persons
Saving lives starts in communities
Urgent funds needed for emergency WASH
Continuing WASH with adapted programing in COVID-19
Support the Health strategy
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-wash-cluster-covid-19-bulletin-16-june-2020-enar
(* B H)
Yemen - 2020 AWD / Cholera Response Dashboard - Weeks 1 - 24
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-2020-awd-cholera-response-dashboard-weeks-1-24
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* A K)
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 28, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-28-2020-map-update/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON JUNE 27, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-june-27-2020-map-update/
(A K P)
Mukalla-based journalist and activist Sabri bin Makhashin: @USNavy intercepted a dhow carrying illegal arms including rockets near the coast of #Yemen
https://twitter.com/BashaReport/status/1277315952598712322
(* B P)
The Association of Abductees' Mothers said, in a joint statement with D.F.R.F. on the occasion of International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, that more than 2,970 detainees, including 5 women, were killed in #Yemen and 81 detainees died as a result of physical torture.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1277317593016098816
(* B K P)
Saudi Arabia’s Aid Pledge Whitewashes Its Role in Yemen’s War
While the Saudi siege continues, observers question its effort to “help” the country by raising millions with the UN.
The effects of five years of air strikes and a total land, sea, and air embargo have been amplified by the COVID-19 crisis.
The UN stated in May that Yemen’s health system had collapsed with the spread of the coronavirus. But the pandemic is merely the straw that broke the camel’s back. In reality, Yemen’s health system had already collapsed with the targeting of many healthcare facilities by Saudi air strikes, the Yemeni Houthi Rebels, and Yemeni government forces during the five-year war.
Saudi Arabia and the UN Call for Donations
In a perverse and rather sick irony, Saudi Arabia joined the United Nations on June 2 in organizing a “pledging conference” specifically to make an urgent plea to donors around the world to raise $2.41 billion USD for the UN to continue to provide humanitarian aid to Yemen.
A wide range of donors pledged a total of $1.35 billion USD at the June 2 conference, far short of the $2.41 billion USD goal. The United Kingdom pledged a $200 million USD aid package, and Germany offered $139.8 million USD.
The US pledged $225 million USD. The United States has been a substantial weapons provider to the Saudi kingdom and has provided ongoing logistics, intelligence, and training support for the Saudi-UAE-led coalition throughout the war, despite efforts to stop the administration’s support, among other measures, through a joint House and Senate Resolution.
Saudi Arabia pledged $500 million USD in aid to Yemen, a pittance considering what it spent destroying the country. In 2018, the war was said to have cost the Kingdom upward of $100 billion USD.
The UAE pledged zero funding.
The UN is calling upon the donors to pay the money immediately.
Human Rights Violations, War Crimes, and Saudi Whitewashing
According to an analysis co-published by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and the Yemeni human rights group Mwatana, from March 2015 to December 2018, hospitals and doctors in Yemen were attacked at least 120 times by the conflict’s warring parties.
“Saudi Arabia is spending billions for their war on Yemen,” said Dr. Jumaan. “If they stop the war, the budget they will save will be enough to support the rebuilding of Yemen.”
Indeed, Saudi Arabia’s commitment to offer financial aid to Yemen at a time when its continuing military actions are jeopardizing the entire country appears disingenuous at best and downright Machiavellian at worst. It is yet another attempt at whitewashing Saudi Arabia’s reputation on the international and domestic scene.
For Saudi Arabia to be in the forefront now of offering Yemen humanitarian aid is like saying, “We set fire to your house, and burned it to the ground; we’re still pouring fuel on the flames, but don’t worry, we’ll help you rebuild it . . . eventually.” – by Elisabeth R. Myers
https://insidearabia.com/saudi-arabias-aid-pledge-whitewashes-its-role-in-yemens-war/
My remark: Also read the longer report linked in cp1.
(A K P)
Krieg im Jemen: Friedensangebot der Saudis ist laut Houthis unfundierte Propaganda
Jemens Ansarullah-Bewegung, auch als Houthis bekannt, sagt, jüngste Berichte, die darauf hinweisen, dass Saudi-Arabiens Bereitschaft, Frieden zu schließen, lediglich «unbegründete Propaganda» ist, die von den Verbündeten des Riad-Regimes, nämlich Großbritannien und den Vereinigten Staaten, verbreitet wird.
In einem Beitrag auf seinem Twitter-Account betonte Houthi-Sprecher Mohammed Abdulsalam, dass Saudi-Arabien den blutigen Krieg gegen den Jemen mit amerikanischen und britischen Waffen führt.
«Aggression und Belagerung sind eine Negation des Friedens», schrieb er. «Berichte über die Friedensbereitschaft Saudi-Arabiens sind nur unbegründete Propaganda zwischen den USA und Großbritannien.»
„Wir sagen ihnen, Sie starten die Aggression, der Krieg im Jemen wird durch Ihre Waffen ausgelöst. Sie sind des Friedens nicht würdig “, sagte Abdulsalam über die USA und Großbritannien.
Die Äußerungen kamen zwei Tage, nachdem General Kenneth McKenzie, Leiter des US-Zentralkommandos (CENTCOM), behauptete, Riad wolle «eine Verhandlungslösung», um den Jemen-Krieg zu beenden.
(A K P)
Salvation Government Spokesman: UN Contributs to Siege on Yemeni People
Spokesman for the National Salvation Government, Minister of Information Dhaifallah Al-Shami, said that the United Nations is revealing its face by contribution to the siege on the Yemeni people. He told Almasirah that "the Americans are the ones who declared war on Yemen, and we know that if Americans talk about peace, they seek to escalate and impose hegemony under the name of peace."
Al-Shami emphasized that the US-British approach comes within the framework of the international game to control Yemen through their Saudi and Emirati tools and that the world today knows the truth of the peace that US and Britain want, and what is happening in Palestine is a living model.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13697
(A K P)
[Sanaa gov.] National Delegation: Saudi Arabia Wants to Restore its Embassy Rulling to Yemen, Time for that Over
A member of the national delegation, Abdulmalik Al-Ajri, said that "Saudi Arabia wants to renew the embassy’s ruling for Yemen, and the time to do that is over."
Al-Ajri told Almasirah that since the beginning of the war, a lot of solutions and ideas have been presented that are consistent with international law, explaining that Saudi Arabia has ambitions in Yemen and not fears, and it has problems with most of the countries in the region.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13695
(A K P)
Abdulsalam: Reports on Saudi Readiness for Peace Just US-UK Baseless Propaganda
Head of the National Delegation Mohammed Abdulsalam lashed out, on Saturday, at Saudi Arabia and its allies over their aggression against Yemen, saying Riyadh is not ready for peace in Yemen as propagated by its allies, the US and the UK.
"Aggression and siege are a negation of peace," Abdulsalam wrote in a post published on his Twitter page. “Reports on Saudi Arabia’s readiness for peace are just US-UK baseless propaganda.”
“We say to them (US, UK) you are launching the aggression, the war in Yemen is launched by your weapons. You are not worthy of peace,” he added.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13701
and
(A K P)
Saudi Claims of Peace ‘Baseless Propaganda': Yemen’s Ansarullah
"Aggression and siege are a negation of peace," he wrote. “Reports on Saudi Arabia’s readiness for peace are just US-UK baseless propaganda.”
“We are saying to them, you are launching the aggression, the war in Yemen is launched by your weapons. You are not worthy of peace,” Abdulsalam said of the US and Britain, Press TV reported.
The remarks came two days after General Kenneth McKenzie, head of US Central Command (CENTCOM), claimed that Riyadh wanted "a negotiated solution" to end the Yemen war.
"It's my judgment based on dialogue, mil-to-mil dialogue within the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and meetings I've had there, that Saudi Arabia genuinely seeks a negotiated end to the conflict in Yemen," he tweeted.
(A K P)
Envoy Praises Iran's Multiple Plans for Ceasefire in Yemen
[Sanaa gov.] Yemeni Ambassador to Tehran Ibrahim al-Dulaimi said that Iran has proposed several plans to establish ceasefire in Yemen and hold inter-Yemeni talks.
Dulaimi told the Arabic-language al-Masirah news channel that Iran's plans were based on the principle of non-interference of foreigners in the talks.
He added that the aggressive Saudi-led coalition has raised allegations of Iran's meddling in Yemen as a pretext to continue war against the Arab country.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990408000742
(* B H K)
Toxic mix of violence and virus sweeps poorest countries, warns war reporter
The BBC’s Lyse Doucet says Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and others face a nightmare scenario from the global pandemic
This summer will usher in some of the worst catastrophes the world has ever seen if the pandemic is allowed to spread rapidly across countries already convulsed by growing violence, deepening poverty and the spectre of famine, the BBC war reporter Lyse Doucet has warned.
Speaking exclusively to the Observer, she says she fears “a terrifying mix of violence and the virus” will soon overwhelm countries such as Yemen, Afghanistan and Somalia, where Covid-19 has yet to reach its peak. Already, in southern Yemen, gravediggers can’t keep up with the dead and dying, she says. “Conflict will also be magnified and multiplied by impoverishment, starvation and despair … Expect a hot summer.”
The economic damage the coronavirus has wreaked upon the world – for example, destroying the income of labour migrants who regularly send money back home – will only deepen the hunger and deprivation in war-torn countries, and feed feelings of injustice and hopelessness there, Doucet says. “Covid-19 is not just about lives, it’s about livelihoods. When you destroy people’s fragile livelihoods, you also destroy lives.”
With so many people living hand to mouth in these countries, the further economic cost of “staying at home” will be as fatal as the virus itself, even when it is circulating rapidly. “The developing world will face nightmare scenarios. There aren’t enough resources to either test or treat – and because of corruption, the wealthy will get the resources that do exist.”
Some will be tempted to join fighters and rebels who promise to pay them so they can feed their family and keep them safe. “It catches your breath. Countries which have already lived through the worst of times could face unthinkable pressures and hardships in our time.” In many of these places, she says, “there will be violence and the virus for some time to come”.
Yet she fears that all this feel very distant to people in Britain and other wealthy nations right now
(B K P)
Why is a ceasefire needed in Yemen now?
Since early May the coronavirus has taken hold in Yemen, spreading among families and cities. It has deepened the misery for millions of people in Yemen. Every day, other Yemenis living abroad like me sit on the outside praying for this war to end.
We try to refocus our efforts on trying to overcome the real challenge that lies ahead – the one we all face – of fighting the inequalities driven by the coronavirus that affect people in Yemen, just like it is in places like London, New York or Madrid.
Today, I sit here and wonder – when will there be an end to the brutal war in my country?
The last five years of conflict have caused tens of thousands to lose their lives, and increased food insecurity to levels I cannot imagine. Many people I know across the country are finding it hard to put three meals a day on the table. This is the reality for millions of people in Yemen.
We’ll never be able to tackle the coronavirus while wars are still raging. We need to silence the guns and stand with those calling for immediate and permanent local ceasefires. And stand with those who are unable to access adequate health care and sanitation. We need to focus on ensuring inclusive and lasting peace, so that global efforts focus on the real challenges of inequality – and our drive to overcome coronavirus.
https://oxfamapps.org/blog/why-is-a-ceasefire-needed-in-yemen-now/
(* B K P)
Top Houthi Official: Yemeni Forces to Strike Strategic Targets Deeper Inside Saudi Arabia
“A number of Yemen's strategic goals were achieved during the operation [dubbed the Fourth Deterrent Balance Operation]. Several others will soon be attained,” Mohammad al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah's political bureau, said in an exclusive interview with Arabic-language al-Alam television news network on Thursday night.
He added, “What distinguishes the recent Yemeni military offensive from the previous ones is the high number of missiles used in the operation, as well as the sensitive targets struck.”
“Secondly, it was carried out after the peace offer [recently made by member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council Mohammad Ali al-Houthi] to dispel Saudis’ delusion that Yemen has put forward the proposal out of despair. After strikes against the sensitive sites, however, Saudi Arabian authorities and their advocates, especially the United States and Britain, realized it was not the case,” Bukhaiti pointed out.
He noted that world countries now well know that Yemeni forces are capable enough to target the depths of the Saudi territory.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990406000521
(* B K P)
Der Jemen – Ein Land am Abgrund
Nun hat auch das Covid 19 Virus das zugrunde gebombte Land erreicht und trifft auf eine in ihrer Mehrheit hungernde und ein fast gänzlich zusammengebrochenes Gesundheitssystem. Millionen von Menschen kämpfen als Binnenflüchtlinge um das tägliche Überleben.
Saudi-Arabien hat den Krieg verloren
Tönte noch der saudische Kronprinz Muhammad bin Salman vor dem Krieg gegen den Jemen, man benötige nur einige Wochen, um sich dort militärisch durchzusetzen, ist längst klar: das saudische Königshaus konnte keines seiner Kriegsziele durchsetzen.
Mit dem Krieg gegen den Jemen wollte der Kronprinz nicht nur den Wunsch der Jemeniten nach Selbstbestimmung im Keime ersticken und dafür sorgen, dass das Land weiter Hinterhof des Königreichs bleibt. Der erste große Kriegseinsatz der auch von Deutschland hochaufgerüsteten Saudis sollte der Welt und vor allem dem Erzfeind Iran die vermeintliche militärische Stärke Riads signalisieren. Gleichzeitig wollte Muhammad bin Salmans seinen Machtanspruch in der Rangfolge der Königsfamilie stärken.
Nach fünf Jahren Krieg lassen sich die herben militärischen Verluste der Saudis nicht mehr verschleiern.
Strategiewechsel der Saudis – vom Mörder zum vermeintlichen Helfer
Scheinbar hat die saudische Führung ihre Niederlage erkannt und versucht nun, einen Strategiewechsel einzuleiten, um so ihr ruiniertes Image wieder aufzupolieren. Mit Hilfe der UN, die sich leider zum Steigbügelhalter machten, initiierte Saudi-Arabien eine sogenannte Geberkonferenz für den Jemen, um Gelder für benötigte Hilfsprogramme der UN im Jemen zu sammeln.
An Zynismus und Plumpheit ist dieses Vorgehen kaum zu überbieten.
Wie schon im Fall des ermordeten Journalisten Khashoggi, wollen die Saudis die Welt hier zum Narren halten.
Gleichzeitig finden weiterhin und immer weniger von der Weltöffentlichkeit beachtet, Bombardements auf zivile Einrichtungen statt.
Kriegsverbrechen aufklären – Selbstbestimmungsrecht verteidigen
Die Kriegsverbrechen der von Saudi-Arabien angeführten Kriegskoalition im Jemen müssen aufgeklärt und der Krieg als völkerrechtswidrig verurteilt werden.
https://diefreiheitsliebe.de/politik/meinungsstark-politik/der-jemen-ein-land-am-abgrund/
(* A K P)
Houthis put preconditions for allowing Safer assessment
The Houthi group on Saturday asked for a mechanism to pump crude out of the floating storage and offloading (FSO) facility Safer and to allot its revenues for paying the civil servants, as precondition to allow the UN assessment team access to the derelict tanker.
Safer disputes "are not – as somebodies try to depict – over the assessment team's visit," member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council tweeted.
The disputes "are over assurances that the facility would be repaired after assessment, if any, and that a mechanism would be (at first) developed on how to pump the crude and the oil revenues would be deposited into a special account for constant payment of military and civil salaries, as listed in 2014 payrolls," Mohamed Ali al-Houthi added.
These steps "should be taken all at once according to the UN proposal and the comprehensive solution document," he said hinting at a vision presented by his group on 8 April to the UN on stopping the war.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-18104.html
My comment: These preconditions are not new. Why it simply isn’t done this way? Because the Hadi government claims the revenue from selling the crude for itself and the UN recognizes all Hadi government claims as “legitimate”.
(* B K P)
Seawater seeping into decaying oil tanker off Yemen coast
The United Nations said an abandoned oil tanker moored off the coast of Yemen loaded with more than 1 million barrels of crude oil is at risk of rupture or exploding, causing massive environmental damage to Red Sea marine life, desalination factories and international shipping routes.
Meanwhile, Houthi rebels who control the area where the ship is moored have denied U.N. inspectors access to the vessel. Internal documents obtained by The Associated Press shows that seawater has entered the engine compartment of the tanker, which hasn’t been maintained for over five years, causing damage to the pipelines and increasing the risk of sinking. Rust has covered parts of the tanker and the inert gas that prevents the tanks from gathering inflammable gases, has leaked out. Experts say maintenance is no longer possible because the damage to the ship is irreversible.
For years, the U.N. has been trying to send inspectors to assess the damage aboard the vessel known as the FSO Safer and look for ways to secure the tanker by unloading the oil and pulling the ship to safety.
But one European diplomat, a Yemeni government official and the tanker’s company owner said that Houthi rebels have resisted. The diplomat said the rebels are treating the vessel as a “deterrent like having a nuclear weapon.” All three individuals spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
“They do say that openly to the U.N., ‘We like to have this as something to hold against the international community if attacked,’” the diplomat said. “Houthis are definitely responsible for failure of the U.N. to look at the ship.”
Money is also an issue, the diplomat said, adding that the Houthis initially were demanding millions of dollars in return for the oil stored in the tanker. The U.N. is trying to reach an arrangement where money could be used to pay workers and employees at Yemen’s Red Sea ports, the diplomat added.
https://apnews.com/e8d9e1a1d674a2d6784a2c53dfe628e2
Photos: https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1276512499756654598
My comment: The last paragraph quoted here is crucial, both Yemeni governments claim the profit of selling this crude, this blocks all everything. Just blaming the Houthis is propaganda.
And
(* A P)
Al-Houthi Refutes British Ambassador’s Allegations Regarding FSO Safer, Peace, Salaries
Member of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, refuted the fallacies of the statements of the British ambassador to Yemen regarding the floating oil storage in the Red Sea north of the Yemeni city of Hodeidah, FSO Safer, bringing peace in Yemen, arms smuggling and employee salaries.
He renewed the disclaimer of the Political Council and the National Salvation Government from any leakage that might occur from the vessel after appeals to the United Nations to send a team to maintain it.
Regarding the British ambassador in Yemen Michael Aaron’s remarks, Al-Houthi said in a series of tweets on his Twitter page on Thursday, "What the aggression and the embargo did economically and environmentally in Yemen did more harm than any leakage (from Safer) that we had evacuated our responsibility for.”
"If you think that the fish are more valuable than the Yemeni people, then you as the British confirm your absolute affiliation with the American Foreign Ministry, which declared its concern over the Yemeni shrimp previously, while you participated and declared, as two countries and officially, the siege and killing of the Yemeni citizen by leading the aggression against Yemen," he said.
Addressing Aaron, Al-Houthi said, “You are not a policy maker, but a carrier of news and reports. Peace in Yemen does not need detailing according to what your countries want, nor can it come from seminars and conferences with non-actors from the Yemeni Republic and the party of aggressors as countries.”
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13668
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-18063.html
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Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, but we can help
“USAID basically has decided to make a political point,” Scott Paul, humanitarian policy lead for Oxfam, says. “They want to demonstrate to the Houthis that no one should get in the way of, or intrude, or interfere in the work of humanitarian agencies. So they basically just cut off almost all of the assistance going to the north.”
Paul says that while both parties in the conflict have attempted to place “unacceptable” control over the delivery of humanitarian assistance, the move by USAID, the US’s international aid and development agency, has “given other parties the moral high ground to say it’s the US starving people for a political agenda and not them.”
He later adds that he thinks “there’s some truth to that. USAID is putting some of the world’s most vulnerable and at-risk people in the middle of a dispute, rather than trying to help where we can.”
Today, funding levels are plummeting when they’re needed more than ever.
“This is a complex and multifaceted conflict,” Paul says. “There is no good side and bad side, and if we’re serious about demonstrating the credibility to be a peace broker, to solve the largest humanitarian crisis in the world, we can’t be an arms broker to one side.”
US citizens should also voice their desire to see the US to lift the suspension of aid to Yemen.
“We are in a moment that requires truly global solidarity,” Paul says. “COVID is not affecting people just in one country. It’s affecting people everywhere. And in line with the response of Congress and of Americans for many decades, we want to do our part to help.”
https://matadornetwork.com/read/yemen-humanitarian-crisis/
(* B K P)
Global Solidarity Is Needed to Save Yemen
International aid agencies and human rights groups, as well as governments have woken up to the horrors of coronavirus outbreak in Yemen.
They say the Trump administration has a duty to stop supporting the unconscionable support and weapon sales to the Saudis, as called for by the European Parliament and implemented by several EU countries. They even came up with a new bipartisan bill in the US Senate attempting to force an end to US involvement in the Saudi war, because they say the war was never authorized by Congress.
Despite international outrage over the illegality of the unnecessary conflict and the unsubstantiated claims of Iranian involvement, some US officials claim the legal pretext for the war is that the US has sold Saudi Arabia all the warplanes and promised to “service” those planes, which in and of itself means refueling the planes during combat operations and airstrikes against civilian objects, including residential areas, hospitals and schools, factories, UNESCO World heritage sights, orphanages and wedding parties.
At bottom, there is no authorization for the war, not even a United Nations mandate, which clearly makes the US government, due to a host of reliable data and official statements, complicit in Saudi war crimes and crimes committed against humanity in the poorest country in the Arab world.
Western governments approving the export of arms to Saudi Arabia have received many detailed and credible reports from the UN and other reputable bodies over the past years pointing to a pattern of horrific human rights abuses and war crimes committed throughout Yemen by the Saudi forces and allies.
According to Amnesty International, “In the face of unbearable suffering of civilians and mounting casualties those governments are still carrying on business as usual, even escalating arms transfers. This is a clear breach of the golden rules in the Arms Trade Treaty.”
In the face of unbearable suffering of civilians amid the coronavirus pandemic and mounting illnesses, Western governments have failed to enact convincing measures to prevent further violations, conduct independent and impartial investigations, or bring the perpetrators to justice.
According to many human rights groups and international aid organizations, including the UN Human Rights Watch and OXFAM, Western governments, instead, are carrying on business as usual, and in some cases even escalating arms transfers - instead of sending medicines like test kits and protective gear.
This is a clear breach of the golden rules in the Arms Trade Treaty, International Law, International Humanitarian law, and the UN Charter. Under the same laws and treaties, all Western governments must immediately halt their deadly arms transfers and military support to Saudi Arabia and its coalition partners that are being used to commit and facilitate serious violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Yemen.
Washington and its NATO allies know that it’s because they have turned a blind eye that Saudi Arabia continues to bomb Yemen. They also know that no proxy warfare is being played out for influence there.
Quite the opposite, there is an American-Saudi imprint on every civilian life lost in Yemen.
https://en.farsnews.ir/newstext.aspx?nn=13990405000870
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KeepItOn: As Yemen’s war goes online, internet shutdowns and censorship are hurting Yemenis
Yemenis caught in the web of this war are often used as bargaining chips by the warring parties. The brutal realities of the war are reflected in the internet and telecommunications infrastructure. It has become a battleground for exerting control, with authorities connecting or disconnecting the population to serve a military objective. As a result, millions of Yemenis have been deprived of their right to communicate, to access and exchange information, and importantly, to share their reality and lived experiences. This further exacerbates the depravity of their conditions.
Internet shutdowns and censorship
According to the 2019 #KeepItOn report, Yemen accounted for the majority of internet shutdowns in the Middle East region. In addition, there were reports from multiple trusted sources that the true number of internet shutdowns in Yemen is far higher than originally documented.
Today, countless Yemenis remain in the dark, suffering under a network blackout during the ongoing conflict in the middle of a global pandemic.
January of 2020 began an especially dark period. Early in the month, damage to a submarine fiber optic cable cut 80 percent of internet capacity in Yemen. Many sources attribute the damage to sabotage by the Houthis, but regardless of who or what is responsible, Yemenis were effectively cut off from one another and the rest of the world. The continued disconnections have become increasingly dangerous with the continued spread of COVID-19.
Battle for control of internet services, steep price hikes deepen the connectivity crisis
In 2011, when protests started in Yemen, the ownership of telecommunication services and companies became a political issue. With the ongoing civil unrest and random bombings in the country, power outages, and alleged deliberate sabotage of fiber optic equipment, telecommunication providers are struggling to maintain services.
In 2015, the Houthis took over the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology and began to filter and censor various news sites, and eventually, to shut down the internet completely, multiple times.
Earlier this year, the government-held telecommunications company, YemenNet, surprised the rest of Yemen’s telcos by sharply increasing the price of internet prices and imposing new data limits.
(? B K P)
Film: Political Geography of Violence in Yemen
This lecture -- Political Geography of Violence in Yemen -- was delivered by Dr. Khaled Fattah Scholar, Carnegie Middle East Center and Lecturer, University of Lund, Kingdom of Sweden, on Tuesday, 29 April 2014, at 7.30pm in the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Hall at the ECSSR Office Complex in Abu Dhabi.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnPO9q9LFvo
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B K P)
Hodeidah Port: Forces of Aggression Continue to Detain 22 Ships
The forces of the US-Saudi aggression continue to detain 22 ships with more than 536 tons of oil derivatives and prevent them from reaching the port of Hodeidah despite obtaining international permits, a source in Hodeidah port told Almasirah on Sunday.
The source indicated that the ships, seized by the aggression, carry more than 144 thousand tons of diesel, more than 263 thousand tons of gasoline, more than 29 thousand tons of gas and more than 100 thousand tons of diesel.
The period of detention of oil ships ranges between 98 days and 50 days, and the longest detention period is for the DYNASTY oil tanker, which was seized by the aggression on March 25, with 29,262 hydrocarbons on board. Its detention period has reached 98 days.
The YPC confirms that piracy of aggression against ships of oil derivatives in spite of obtaining international permits is a violation of the provisions of the International Convention on Human Rights
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13708
and also https://en.mehrnews.com/news/160293/Saudi-led-coalition-continues-to-prevent-22-Ships-from-reaching
(B K P)
Film: This is how #Yemenies lined up to get fuel these days in Sanaa
https://twitter.com/faizahsulimani/status/1276610384447840256
(B K P)
Film: Walk Ibb's share of the oil disaster
The severe effects targeting the entire Yemeni people as a result of the continued aggression in capturing oil derivative vessels
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LOne2Rc-Nk
(A K P)
Mohammad Al-Houthi to Griffith: Talk to US Foreign Ministry to Launch Oil Tankers
Supreme Political Council member Mohammad Al-Houthi called on the UN envoy Martin Griffith to communicate and talk to the US Foreign Ministry, as it is the one that has the power to launch the seized oil tankers.
Al-Houthi wrote on Tweeter Friday "We tell the envoy that the port of Hodeidah is open and the besieged tankers have permits from the UN, stressing that those who prevent their entry to Hodeidah is the US-British-Saudi-Emirati aggressive navy."
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13675
(A H K P)
Hundreds of thousands of Yemeni patients in immediate mortal danger due to lack of fuel
Aggression countries commit massive war crime by preventing fuel shipments from arriving in Yemen
The [Sanaa gov.] Yemeni Ministry of Public Health and Population warned on Friday of a major health catastrophe due to the lack of oil derivatives, holding the United Nations and the countries of aggression responsible for the daily deaths due to the deteriorating health situation.
Health Minster Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakkil emphasized that Yemen is on the brink of a major health catastrophe if the aggression countries continue to prevent oil tankers from entry.
Minister Al-Mutawakkil indicated that the hospitals depend entirely on oil derivatives, pointing out that preventing the entry of oil derivatives means the death penalty for hundreds of thousands of patients.
and
(A H K P)
[Sanaa gov.] Health Ministry warns of major health disaster due to the lack of petroleum derivatives
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3100881.htm
(A K P)
Oil Company Manager: Continued Detention of Oil Tankers by Aggression to Cause Major Disaster
The general manager of the oil company, Ammar Al-Adrae'e, stressed that the continued detention of oil tankers by the aggression will cause a major disaster for the Yemeni people, explaining that the resulted damage is unpredictable.
https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=13660
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B H)
„Zerbrochener“ Jemen: Bitter notwendige Hilfen drohen nicht anzukommen
Der Apostolische Vikar für Arabien appelliert an die politischen Verantwortlichen im Jemen, Hilfen für die notleidende Bevölkerung zu ermöglichen. Die bitter nötigen Hilfen kommen aufgrund der seit 2015 andauernden kriegerischen Auseinandersetzungen und zerstörter Infrastrukturen des Gesundheitssystems kaum bei der Bevölkerung an. Dabei droht aufgrund der ernsten Lage vielen Kindern in dem Land der Tod.
Bischof Hinder macht eindringlich auf die Zerstörung von Gesundheitseinrichtungen im Land aufmerksam. Mehr als die Hälfte der Krankenhäuser sei nicht mehr begehbar - der Krieg hat hier seine Spuren hinterlassen. Aber auch die Unsicherheit im Land sei gestiegen, die „den Transport erschwert, manchmal sogar unmöglich macht“. „Die Teilung des Landes in mindestens drei Teile, mit fast unterschiedlichen Jurisdiktionen - so der Apostolische Vikar weiter - erschwert eine effiziente und koordinierte Hilfe zusätzlich, und ohne einen Waffenstillstand zwischen den Parteien der kriegführenden Parteien, intern und extern, werden alle humanitären Operationen zumindest teilweise gelähmt bleiben.“
(B H K pS)
Film: Capture the martyr Abdullah Ibrahim .. Another witness to the crimes of the Houthi terrorist militia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGJ-TEaRUog
(* B H)
Film: Jemen befindet sich derzeit im «dunkelsten Moment»
Ein neuer Bericht der UNICEF besagt, dass Millionen von Kindern an den Rand des Verhungerns gedrängt werden, weil die Coronavirus-Pandemie inmitten eines Zusammenbruchs der internationalen Hilfe über das Land fegt.
https://www.telezueri.ch/news/jemen-befindet-sich-derzeit-im-dunkelsten-moment-138294589
(* B H)
Yemen: 'Millions of children could die unless the world wakes up to what's happening here'
The UN's humanitarian chief is pleading with leaders to act or face the prospect of millions of Yemeni children starving to death.
Her name is Salwa. She is five years old and weighs just three-and-a-half kilograms.
In the middle of the world's worst humanitarian disaster, now hit by coronavirus and a crisis of funding too, this is what childhood looks like.
Our cameraman found Salwa with her parents and siblings in the mud hut that is the family's third home in her short life.
"My daughter suffers from severe malnutrition," her father tells us. "She is five years old and was always like this.
"Now she is in a bad condition and our situation is much worse because of the war and coronavirus. We are trapped in our houses and we cannot afford 100 Yemeni Rials (less than 20p) for food for one day.
"We were displaced to Al Jar because of the war. We worked in Al Jar for one year. Then it was bombed. We moved to Al Asakarah. But we had no livestock or job. [Now] we are 10 kilometres from a military area. We are displaced and we can't work."
Speaking to Sky News, the United Nations under secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, Sir Mark Lowcock, said the situation was beyond critical.
"I have worked on Yemen for many years now, seeing many bad moments. This is the darkest moment I have ever seen," Sir Mark said.
"The world has a simple, straightforward choice. You can either resume funding of the Yemeni operation and save millions of lives or watch as the country simply falls of the cliff."
Confirming the impact of these cuts, Sir Mark said: "We raised lots of money for it last year. More than $3bn (£2.4bn), and that enabled us to feed 13 million people a month. Now the money has fallen away."
The numbers, collated by the UN children's agency (UNICEF), are overwhelming.
Four in five Yemeni children, 12.3 million, are in desperate need of aid. More than 1.7 million children have been forced to flee their homes to camps, which are themselves now at threat of closure because of a cut in funding.
Some 10.2 million children do not have access to basic healthcare. And over the course of the civil war, drug-preventable diseases like diphtheria, cholera, measles and malaria - are all rife.
"Of course the real solution to the tragic problems we see now in Yemen is peace. The men with guns and bombs need to put the guns and bombs down and get round table and move forward in a peace process," Sir Mark said.
"It's a stark choice. Your footage and other pictures of what's happening means the world can watch what's happening in Yemen. There is no secret about what's happening there.
"The world needs to wake up and decide whether it's willing to let millions of children simply lose their lives or whether it is to step up, and, as is still possible, prevent a huge tragedy." (with film)
Film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MC9GOASz9H0
(* B H)
Film: UNICEF reports hunger and aid shortages for the children of Yemen
A new UNICEF report warns the children of Yemen are at serious risk of malnutrition, disease and death, after years of civil war now topped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kjMUh603l4
(* B H)
Film: Urgent funding needed to save Yemen from hunger, pandemic crisis
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPFjo4w20k4
(B H)
Social media dashboard, Yemen
https://www.icrc.org/en/social-media-dashboard/country/ye/yemen
(* A H)
Vast locust swarms appear in Sana’a
Experts say the migratory locusts pose no immediate danger to agriculture
Swarms of desert locusts have covered the sky over the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Friday morning, coming from their summer breeding areas in Ma’rib and the southern coast.
According to the Desert Locust Control Center, these swarms of locusts come from areas that have not experienced locust control, in the eastern areas of Ma’rib and the occupied southern coasts.
It pointed out that locust will continue to pass through the next two weeks.
The center indicated that these are mature locusts that will return to the summer and desert breeding areas for laying eggs and breeding as a result of the availability of suitable environmental conditions of moisture, rain and vegetation cover.
According to the center’s specialists, flying locust swarms do not pose a threat to agricultural crops at the moment, but the real danger lies in the locations where they lay eggs and reach the hatching stage, as the exit of small locust nymphs (dabba) that feed on plants may cause heavy destruction to crops and green trees.
https://www.uprising.today/vast-locust-swarms-appear-in-sanaa/
Photos: https://twitter.com/Bassam_photo/status/1276507483486466054
Films: https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1276478809018118147
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1276500064903540736
(A H)
On Tuesday 23rd of June, a specially-chartered MSF flight landed in #Aden, #Yemen, to deliver 18 tons of medical devices, equipment, medication and personal protective equipment to be used in MSF’s response to the #COVID19 outbreak in Yemen.
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1276194597014814722
(* B H)
Looming fuel crisis is threatening food, hospitals and water
A fuel crisis is brewing in the northern governorates of Yemen. For two weeks now, residents of the main city of Sana’a have witnessed kilometre-long queues for petrol. The price of petrol on the black market has shot up. Some gas stations have already run dry.
Five years of war has left Yemen without a functioning electricity grid. This makes fuel such as diesel the main source of power for many vital services, like pumping water through city pipes or running ventilators in hospitals. Fuel is also what makes it possible to transport food and water to communities in acute need.
A shortage is potentially deadly, as we witnessed during the similar crisis last year. Food prices went up, entire water systems were compromised, and support for malnourished children was suspended. And because these new shortages are coming on top of a water funding emergency, with water and sanitation services for over 6 million people facing closure, it will almost certainly lead to a surge in cholera and Covid-19 cases.
Abdu Mohammed is one of those already feeling the effects. His family are among 2,500 displaced people in Al-Khudaish camp who have fled the frontlines of the war and are now living in tents made from wood and tarpaulin. With the funding for fuel gone, every family in the camp must now survive on just 10 litres of water every two days.
“Should we use the 10 litres for drinking,” Abdu asks, “for washing hands to protect ourselves from the coronavirus, for washing our clothes, or for cooking?”
An impossible water situation
The impossibility of this situation has forced Abdu and other families to beg for water. There is no nearby well, and no other options. “The only source is the tanks [in the camp],” Abdu says. “I haven’t witnessed a shortage like this since I arrived here a year and half ago.”
It is not just Abdu’s camp which is affected, but his entire district of Abs. The water network there is down to just half its usual capacity – which is all the solar-powered part of the system can provide, and even that requires some fuel to run.
https://www.nrc.no/perspectives/2020/looming-fuel-crisis-is-threatening-food-hospitals-and-water/
(* B H)
KINDHEIT IM JEMEN
Zwischen Krieg, Cholera und Covid-19
Aufwachsen im Jemen: Kindheit in der Katastrophe
Das Gesundheitssystem steht vor dem Kollaps und ist nun mit der Corona-Pandemie völlig überfordert. Der fünfjährige Bürgerkrieg im Jemen hat tiefe Narben hinterlassen: Tausende Menschen sind gestorben. Familien haben aufgrund der Kämpfe ihre Heimat verloren. Zwei Millionen Kinder sind mangelernährt, gehen jeden Abend hungrig ins Bett. Über 80 Prozent der Bevölkerung kann nur dank humanitärer Hilfe überleben.
Was uns bei UNICEF besondere Sorge macht: Viele Hilfsprojekte sind dramatisch unterfinanziert, können zum Teil schon ab Juli nicht weitergeführt werden. Für die Kinder hat es schlimme Folgen: Sie können an schwerer Mangelernährung sterben. Sie erhalten keine Impfungen gegen tödliche Krankheiten. Und sie bekommen kein Wasser mehr.
Die katastrophale Lage für Kinder und ihr Alltag im Krieg ist kaum in Worte zu fassen. Mit selten gesehenen Bildern von vor Ort geben wir Ihnen einen Einblick in das Leben von Familien.
https://www.unicef.de/spenden/jemen-kindheit-in-der-katastrophe
(* B H)
Yemen crisis: The casualty of education
For 2 million children in Yemen living in the biggest man-made humanitarian crisis since 2015, the thought of going to school is a distant dream they only get to see in their sleep.
Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights under international law states that “Everyone has the right to education.” Unfortunately, political crisis, terrorism and poverty has robbed these young children living in war-torn Yemen of their right to quality education.
For these little ones the survival against starvation, armed conflict, abuse, child labour and various horrific and inhuman atrocities are every day tests of life they need to pass just to stay alive. The lives of the children of Yemen ruined by the political greed of a few powerful men must be saved, making education the only way for these children to have a brighter future.
Education is the key, that will unlock all doors of opportunity for these young lives and will become their most valuable asset. From empowering a young child to dream to advancing mankind beyond the boundaries of the earth, education is our biggest weapon against all social evils.
Children out of school in Yemen
According to a report by UNICEF from 2019, one in five schools in Yemen can no longer be used as a direct result of conflict. The consequences of being out of school is a threat to life for these children as they become victims of all forms of violation and exploitation.
Many schools that are still functioning do not have basic hygiene facilities; the travel to school is often risky and life threatening, parents are apprehensive to send their children to schools as they remain under constant threat of armed attacks.
Another report by UNICEF cited the lack of availability of teaching staff in schools due to the inability of paying their salaries. This lack of access to education has forced many children into child marriage, child labour, child trafficking or recruitment of child soldiers. The condition of Yemen’s education sector is expected to worsen further in the coming years and has already been suffering the brunt of the corona virus pandemic.
Over the years various global NGOs have worked to increase the accessibility of education across Yemen.
https://www.voicesofyouth.org/blog/yemen-crisis-casualty-education
(B H)
Film: 5 years of conflict in #Yemen have left people like Fatima displaced and struggling to survive. All she wants is peace and good health for her and her children. UNHCR needs more funding to help people like Fatima and those most vulnerable.
https://twitter.com/UNHCRYemen/status/1275700534385750018
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B H)
IOM Yemen | Rapid Displacement Tracking (RDT) - Reporting Period: 21 - 27 Jun 2020
In the first five months of 2020, conflict has resulted in new patterns of displacement, particularly in within Marib, Al Dhale'e, and Taizz governorates.
From 01 January 2020- 27 Jun 2020, IOM Yemen DTM estimates that 16,601 Households or 99,606 Individuals have experienced displacement, at least once.
(* B H)
Working on protecting human rights of migrants
Mohammed Abdiker is the Regional Director of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) – the UN Migration Agency for East and the Horn of Africa. Here he reflects with Samuel Getachew of The Reporter on the many contributions of the United Nations agency, on helping the flow of migrants headed to Ethiopia from Gulf nations these days and on how COVID-19 has affected some of its activities. Excerpt:
Yemen is part of the route through which migrants from the Horn of Africa – primarily Ethiopia and Somalia – head to the Gulf nations. There are several categories of people, including irregular migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.
In 2019, over 138,000 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa. However, in the first half of this year, there has been a major decrease in arrivals due to COVID-19 movement restrictions. Tighter border controls in arrival and departure points from the Horn of Africa has meant that migrant arrivals into Yemen are drastically low. Migrant arrivals were down by 94 per cent in May 2020 when compared to arrival trends during the same period in 2019.
But IOM is still concerned and there are inherent dangers for migrants. Migrants and similar vulnerable groups find themselves trapped at frontlines of Yemen’s conflict. They can be exposed to many forms of abuse, including injuries from sitting in cramped conditions and overcrowded boats. Physical abuse and torture, sexual exploitation, as well as death by drowning or starving due to boats taking on water, being adrift for days or capsizing. Forced disembarkation before reaching the shore, abductions for ransom, arrest and detention in inhumane conditions, forced labour and trafficking.
https://www.thereporterethiopia.com/article/working-protecting-human-rights-migrants
(* B H)
Yemen: UNHCR Operational Update, 25 June 2020
Despite limited funding, difficulties with humanitarian access, ongoing clashes and the devastating onset of COVID-19, UNHCR continues to deliver life-saving interventions across Yemen. During the first five months of 2020, UNHCR and its partners supported 76,300 IDP families with cash assistance, emergency shelters and household items such as mattresses, kitchen sets and solar lamps. With respect to refugees and asylum-seekers, UNHCR assisted 18,900 families with the same interventions, while facilitating access to identification documentation (6,400 documents issues) and psycho-medical support to 2,560 children and SGBV survivors.
UNHCR and partner Society for Humanitarian Solidarity (SHS) continued to deliver emergency items to 350 displaced families in the central governorate of Marib during the reporting period.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-unhcr-operational-update-25-june-2020
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B K P)
Yemen's Houthis holding 20,000 people in 790 prisons
Militias have recruited 7,000 children, caused deaths of 6,000 people by planting landmines
Around 20,000 people are being held in hundreds of prisons in Yemen in areas under the control of Iran-backed Houthi militias.
The information was disclosed during an online symposium organized by a human rights coalition, Yemen’s official SABA news agency reported.
Mutahar Al-Badhiji, executive director of the Yemeni Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations, said during the symposium that Yemen has gone through its worst humanitarian crisis during the past year and a half due to the systematic violations of the Houthi militias against people.
Murad al-Garati, president of the Temkin development and human rights organization, said roughly 20,000 people are being held in 790 official and informal prisons under Houthi control.
He added that the Houthis have recruited 7,000 children and are responsible for planting landmines in various cities that have killed 6,000 people.
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/yemens-houthis-holding-20-000-people-in-790-prisons/1893087
and also https://www.arabnews.com/node/1696946/middle-east
https://republicanyemen.net/archives/24669
My comment: By a pro-Hadi governmentorganization. Whether these figures are real or oversized, hardly could be independently verified. – For victims of Houthi land mines: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1697041/saudi-arabia
and
(* B P)
There are 13.000 detainees and abductees in 300 prisons in Houthi-run regions, a local human rights organisation has revealed, adding that the Houthi militia has subjected many detainees to harshest types of torture.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1277174529496944642
(A P)
The Houthis are ready to fight Zionism
After Zionism announced its links with the Southern Transitional Council, it became obvious that in the future, open war against the occupiers of the Holy Land was expected by the Yemeni revolutionaries.
This news came a few days after the Ansarullah leader’s statement about Saudi Arabia and the UAE colluding with Zionism.
Do not forget that from the first days of the Saudi aggression against the Yemeni revolution, Ansarullah revealed the presence of Zionism in the camp of the aggressors.
While trying to harm Ansarullah, Zionism does not hide its anti-Iranian game, thereby trying to prevent the expansion of the Axis of Resistance.
https://www.uprising.today/the-houthis-are-ready-to-fight-zionism/
(* A P)
Ansar Allah (Houthi) Group Must Rescind Discriminatory “Khumus” Regulations
The Ansar Allah (Houthi) group must immediately rescind the newly introduced and discriminatory implementing regulations to the Zakat Law, Mwatana for Human Rights said. The new regulations impose a “khumus” or “one-fifth” levy in one of the chapters, stating the revenues are to be distributed to those belonging to “Bani Hashem” and their poor. The implementing regulations, which aim to institutionalize resource distribution based on descent, are in flagrant violation of international treaties and conventions, the Yemeni Constitution and fundamental human rights principles and justice values.
On April 29, 2020, Mahdi Al Mashat, President of Ansar Allah’s Supreme Political Council, which controls the capital, Sana’a, and other Yemeni provinces, issued Decree No. 48 of 2020. The decree promulgated implementing regulations to the Yemeni Zakat Law No. 2 of 1999, passed by the Yemeni parliament 21 years before the current conflict. Articles 47 and 48 of the new implementing regulations impose a levy of 20% (known as “khumus”) on natural resources and minerals. According to the regulations, this levy is applicable to items such as minerals, gas, gold, silver, copper, lime, water, stones, salt, sand, marble, fish, pearl, amber and honey.
Article 48 of the new regulations prescribes how these revenues are to be distributed. According to the regulations, the collected “khumus” revenues are meant to be distributed according to six categories. Four of the six categories explicitly use the term “Bani Hashem,” referring to a group of Yemenis that link their descent to the Prophet Mohammed, and of which the leader of Ansar Allah is a member. According to the first two categories listed in the regulations, Khumus revenues must be used for the public benefit of Muslims, but including in this definition military spending on “soldiers” and “weaponry,” and be allocated to the Wali Al-Amr, or guardian. Next, the regulations state that funds should be distributed to “Bani Hashem” and their poor. Then, in the final three categories, the regulations stipulate that Khumus funds must be spent on orphans, the poor and destitute travelers, referring on each occasion to those from Bani Hashem.
“With these discriminatory articles, the implementing regulations to the Zakat law segregate Yemenis on the basis of descent,” said Radhya Al Mutawakel, Chairperson of Mwatana for Human Rights. “These regulations, passed during exceptional circumstances when the natural legislative authority is absent due to the conflict, mark a dangerous precedent perpetuating discrimination and further tearing the already war-torn Yemeni social fabric.”
“The recent discriminatory Ansar Allah decree that aims at extracting more funds from Yemenis, and allocating these funds to a certain group on the basis of their descent, is rejected and condemned, and must be rescinded immediately. This decree comes at a time when the economic and humanitarian situation in the country is deteriorating, and as hundreds of thousands of civil servants are not being paid. This decree will have dangerous ramifications on public “peace
https://mwatana.org/en/discriminatory-khumus-regulations/
(B P)
Abdulamalik Al-Houthi recently announced plans to integrate Yemen’s marginalized black community aka “Muhamasheen” into society. Here’s a new propaganda video of Muhamasheen joining the frontlines. Not exactly the kind of integration that leads to equality.
https://twitter.com/Macoombs/status/1276608231406620673
#Houthis continue recruiting #Yemen's Muhamasheen, sending them to die on the frontlines in the name of integration. I know dozens of Muh. frm my area wr killed while fighting for Houthis who always telling them it's an honor 4 them "Muh." to defend "Sayyed" Abdulmalik.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1276616667423019011
referring to https://twitter.com/hussinalezzi5/status/1276594089081942018
(A P)
Vendors protest removal of their shops in Ibb
A group of vendors staged on Tuesday a sit-in in in Ibb city protesting removal of their informal shops to the advantage of a local businessman affiliated to the Houthis militia.
Eyewitnesses said that the vendors organized their sit-in before the governor’s office in Ibb in a protest to termination of their informal businesses.
The Houthis militants bulldozed the informal shops and inflicted material loss on the vendors.
The protesters said that they were oppressed as sources of their livelihoods were destroyed with no notice or maintenance of their dignity and advantage.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-40429
(A P)
Yemeni forces destroy Al-Qaeda explosives factory
Defenders of Yemen wiped out terrorist threat in Bayda province
Spokesman for the Yemeni Ministry of Interior, Brigadier General Abdel-Khaleq al-Ajri, has on Wednesday said that the security services of Bayda province have found a factory for the manufacture of explosive devices, which belonged to Al-Qaeda in Radman district.
Brigadier General al-Ajri revealed that the laboratory was found in the building of the Youth and Sports Office.
The local authority in Bayda announced last Saturday that it had secured the entire Radman district, confirming that life had returned to normal.
https://www.uprising.today/yemeni-forces-destroy-al-qaeda-explosives-factory/
Films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mY0QCc0cAh0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fOZ2RXFAgFU
My remark: For this conflict and Houthi claims, look at Yemen War Mosaic 660 and 661, cp5. Anti-Houthi source call this a propaganda scam.
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp6 – cp18
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-662b-yemen-war-mosaic-662b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-661-yemen-war-mosaic-661
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-661 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-661:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:
(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)
http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm
http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/
Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:
http://yemendataproject.org/data/
Untersuchung ausgewählter Luftangriffe durch Bellingcat / Bellingcat investigations of selected air raids:
Untersuchungen von Angriffen, hunderte von Filmen / Investigations of attacks, hundreds of films:
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