... Jemen ohne die Tyrannei der Experten – und mehr
Nov. 14, 2020: Saudi air raids in October 2020 – Yemen Matrix: Allies and Adversaries – Joe Biden, Saudi Arabia and Yemen – Yemen water crisis – Yemen beyond the tyranny of experts – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-693b-yemen-war-mosaic-693b
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
cp1b Am wichtigsten: Großer Gefangenenaustausch / Most important: Great prisoner swap
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
cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain
cp11 Deutschland / Germany
cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries
cp12b Sudan
cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms trade
cp13b Söldner / Mercenaries
cp13c Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp13d Wirtschaft / Economy
cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism
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
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
(** B K)
YEMEN DATA PROJECT AIR RAIDS SUMMARY NOVEMBER 2020
Civilian Casualties Reach Record Low As Bombings Pass 22,000
No civilian casualties recorded in air raids for only the second month in 5.5 years as Saudi coalition air raids surpass 22,000
(In YDP's data the air raid* figure is the most conservative. The true number of individual airstrikes ranges from the minimum of 22,184 to a maximum airstrikes of 64,262 since March 2015.)
For only the second month since the start of the Saudi-led air war, zero civilian casualties were recorded in October. December 2019 - during an undeclared de-escalation in the conflict - was the only other month in 5.5 years of the bombing campaign when Yemen Data Project recorded no civilian deaths or injuries in air strikes.
In October, Saudi-led coalition bombings reached a total of 22,184* air raids with up to 64,262 individual air strikes since the Saudi/UAE-led air war began in March 2015 - an average of 11 bombings per day - killing and injuring at least 18,553 civilians. At least 6,568 - 30% - of all air raids hit civilian targets. One third (7,331) hit military targets. In 37% of air raids the target could not be identified.
Air raid numbers were down 16% month-on-month to 186 in October from 221 in September. However, the total number of air raids in 2020 is set to be significantly higher than 2019, with bombing rates currently 65% above those seen to the end of October last year. Civilian casualties in 2020 are expected to be at a record annual low. To the end of October there have been fewer civilian deaths and injuries (207) in the 10 months of 2020 than there were in the first week (375) of the bombing campaign in March 2015.
Marib and Al-Jawf Remain Focus of Bombings
Marib continues to be the most heavily bombed governorate in 2020. Although air raid numbers declined in October by almost a third, to 76 from the record high of 112 in September, more than 30% of all bombings so far this year have targeted the contested governorate that hosts 130 displacement sites and is home to some 1 million internally displaced people. Neighbouring Al-Jawf has also seen a record number of bombings so far this year. October had one of the highest monthly bombing rates in the governorate of the entire air war. Almost a quarter (23%) of all air raids in the month hit a single district: Khab Wa Al-Sha'af in Al-Jawf, which has been the most heavily targeted district countrywide for three consecutive months. In October, 68% of all air raids hit Al-Jawf and Marib.
The highest number of air raids recorded in a single month remains September 2015 at 920, which was also the deadliest month in the air war when at least 756 civilians were killed.
April 2015 saw the highest number of civilian casualties (fatalities and injured) in a single month at 1,745.
In October, 7% of bombings hit civilian targets** 22% hit military targets. In 71% of air raids in October the target could not be identified. Of the 54 air raids where the target could be identified, 24% of bombings hit civilian sites. 76% of identifiable targets were military.
Of the 54 air raids where the target was identified in October 2020
5 hit residential areas.
4 hit farms.
2 hit market places.
1 hit a government compound.
1 hit a pro-Houthi water borne improvised explosive device (WBIED).
Marib continues to be the most heavily bombed governorate of 2020. More than 30% of all Saudi-led coalition air raids in 2020 have targeted Marib. In October, 41% of air raids hit Marib. Medghal was he most heavily bombed district in the governorate with 21 of the 76 air raids in the month in Marib hitting the district. AL-JAWF: Breakdown of districts targeted
For the third consecutive month, Khab Wa Al-Sha'af district of Al-Jawf was the most heavily bombed district countrywide in October with 43 air raids, up from 26 in September. 68% of all air raids countrywide in October hit Al-Jawf and Marib governorates.
https://mailchi.mp/2915aa91e2e3/november2020-yemen-data-project-update-6465588
(*** B K P)
Yemen Matrix: Allies & Adversaries
INTRODUCTION (parts omitted)
To fresh eyes, the current conflict in Yemen may appear to have begun when a rebel group solidified its takeover of the capital in 2015, leaving the government to flee into exile and its regional neighbors scrambling to save it. Yet that story line only scratches the surface. Yemen is not a single story; instead, it is a complex web of stories. It is what some Yemenis call a soap opera (better known in Yemen as musalsal turki). Indeed, like a soap opera, the story of Yemen is defined by complex relationships, shocking events, ever-changing incentives, and unexpected partnerships—all of which have too often and for decades created instability and uncertainty for the Yemeni people.
Suffice it to say, the plotlines visible in Yemen today did not begin in 2015, and most will not end when the current war concludes. In fact, many Yemenis express concern that their compatriots are already writing the script for the next season in Yemen’s story while this season still plays out. This should be cause for concern for more than just Yemenis. Yemen sits alongside key waterways for global trade, has served as a haven for al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, and has kept the Gulf region embroiled in conflict since 2015. Its complexity doubles as instability. To nudge Yemen toward stability requires a concerted effort and deep understanding of the relationships at play there.
Those new to the Yemen portfolio often find themselves confused by the web of relationships. To start, Yemen is a country of about 30 million people, but one where every Yemeni inexplicably seems to know every other. It is a place where the personalities drive events more than institutions, and where informal influence is often more potent than formal power. It is a country with an acute memory, where the events of 1962, 1986, 1994, and 2004 are still as much in play as events of today. The Houthis no doubt remember who was against them in the Saada wars of 2004–10 (e.g., Gen. Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Islah). Those in the Southern Transitional Council (STC) remember who fought against secession in 1994 (e.g., Ali Mohsen, President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, Islah, the General People’s Congress, the Saleh family), but also those who supported them at least notionally (e.g., Saudi Arabia). In the future, the actors in today’s Yemen will recall who fought with and against them in this war.
These often visceral recollections help explain why, more frequently than not, grievance is at the heart of decisions and relationships in Yemen. Even when new political organizations pop up (e.g., the STC in 2017), they are often new faces for old grievances. Making them all the more potent, these gripes are not based on lore; rather, they have accumulated within the lifetimes of those involved. Yemenis alive today in both the north and south lost family members in the wars of 1962, 1986, 1994, and 2004, for example, and they hold other actors responsible. These wars, like all wars, have created adversaries more often than they have spurred a sense of common interest. In fact, the common interest between actors often is their common adversary. As a result, if one is trying to understand why an alliance exists in Yemen, it is often best to start with common adversaries or shared grievances.
For example, the Houthi invasion of the south was a watershed for the Hadi government and the STC. For the Hadi government, it was yet another symbol of the Houthi coup against it; for the individuals who would eventually form the STC, it was yet another northern invasion of the south. This shared sense of injustice aligned the two temporarily against the Houthis, yet their own enmity for each other—born of events in 1986, 1994, and after—simmered underneath and eventually emerged violently.
Given the number of adversarial relationships in Yemen, groups often choose the lesser of two enemies to work with against the greater enemy. It is the classic strategy epitomized in “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Or as Yemenis like to say, “My brother and me against my cousin. My cousin and me against the foreigner.” This can be confusing to new analysts but becomes clearer if one applies the adversary-centric lens.
In the current war, for example, using the term “pro-government forces” would suggest an affinity within those forces, when in reality few forces fighting the Houthis are actually pro-government; they are, instead, anti-Houthi. Their alignment with the government is shaky at best, as evidenced by the STC and Tariq Saleh’s forces refusing to report through a chain of command led by the government. Similarly, many of those aligned with the Houthis are not pro-Houthi but rather anti-Saudi.
This tendency to rank adversaries and team up accordingly creates strange bedfellows—like Ali Mohsen with the Arab Spring protestors, the STC with the Hadi government, or, perhaps strangest of all, the late former president Ali Abdullah Saleh with the Houthis. But it also clearly indicates to analysts and policymakers what splits are likely to occur when the common adversary or grievance is removed.
Just as aligned actors cannot be assumed to share interests beyond a common enemy, opponents are not always divided eternally by hatred. Onetime adversaries such as the Houthis and former president Saleh have been known to align with each other, only to split again. Similarly, allies are known to become adversaries, as happened with the STC and the Hadi government, only to become allies of convenience again.
Grievance constitutes the historical lens through which Yemenis view the present, defining their relationships, shaping their perspectives, and driving their behavior.
If Yemeni-Yemeni relationships were not complex enough, a regional element is often present too. Many Yemeni actors rely on an outside patron for financial support—as the STC does with the United Arab Emirates, the Mahri protestors do with Oman, and the Houthis do with Iran. This matrix shows that the closest “alliances” in Yemen are usually with a foreign patron. Yet perhaps counterintuitively, most Yemeni groups express fiercely anti-foreign-interventionist sentiments. As a result, the relationships with foreign patrons are multidimensional: the financial resources aid Yemeni groups in pursuing their ambitions, but these groups guard their autonomy by not always following their patrons’ advice. It is rare for a group in Yemen to act as a full proxy for an external country—Hadi occasionally snubs Saudi Arabia, the Houthis have flouted Iranian advice, and the STC sometimes defies the UAE’s cautions.
Moreover, no group in Yemen is a monolith, and not every Yemeni in a group ascribes to the entirety of that group’s view. In fact, it is common for individual members to disagree with their group in some way. No one-size-fits-all approach works completely with Yemen. Even when a shared sense of purpose leads actors to align with each other against a common enemy, each group and each member within it remains fiercely independent.
Out of this complexity comes this project, which attempts to disentangle and explain the web of relationships in Yemen by taking a kaleidoscopic lens to them. It is meant to be concise without being vague, simple without oversimplifying, informative but not exhaustive. It is, of course, impossible to put any country or any set of relationships into a series of boxes with icons and call it comprehensive, let alone definitive. In fact, it is likely no two Yemen experts would agree on the exact icon to put in each box given the nuance in every relationship – by Elana DeLozier
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/yemen-relationship-matrix
Full document: https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/uploads/Documents/pubs/YemenMatrixFullText20201007.pdf
Comment by Elisabeth Kendall: Sure, there will always be contentious calls in any reductive analysis, but this impressive work will be supremely useful to anyone seeking to grasp the complexities of Yemen's conflict
https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1326262852894793736
(** B P)
‘Relationship reassessed’: Joe Biden and Saudi Arabia relations
Analysts suggest Biden administration could end the near-unconditional support that Riyadh has enjoyed over the years.
US President-elect Joe Biden has made his position on Saudi Arabia and its war in Yemen clear.
In the past two years, Biden has said Saudi Arabia’s government has “very little social redeeming value”, that Riyadh had murdered “children … and innocent people” in Yemen, and it was a “pariah” state.
“Under a Biden-Harris administration, we will reassess our relationship with the Kingdom [of Saudi Arabia], end US support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, and make sure America does not check its values at the door to sell arms or buy oil,” Biden said in October.
That forceful language is echoed by the wider Democratic Party. Just in the past week, US Representative Ro Khanna tweeted the Democrats would “stop funding the Saudi war in Yemen”.
The reason for this push to punish Saudi Arabia on the Democratic side is clear – the war in Yemen’s continuing humanitarian cost, the murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in October 2018, and the Trump administration’s overt support for Saudi Arabia throughout these affairs.
However, there is often a difference between promises made on the campaign trail and the reality of life as the leader of the most powerful nation on Earth – one that has historically always sought to remain friendly with Saudi Arabia.
Analysts say it is, therefore, more likely Biden will adopt a balanced approach that, while different to Trump’s, is not quite the repudiation of Saudi Arabia that some in the Democrat base might want.
“The Biden administration will end the perception that the Saudi leadership enjoys near-unconditional support in the White House … with a view to reframing it around goals that serve both the US and Saudi interests,” Kristian Ulrichsen, a fellow for the Middle East at Rice University, told Al Jazeera.
“These would include a way of disengaging Saudi Arabia from Yemen.”
Ulrichsen said this new policy towards Saudi Arabia would extend to arms sales, as Washington seeks to attempt to not lose Saudi business while pivoting to arms sales of a different nature.
“Given that advisers around Biden have maintained a commitment to helping defend Saudi Arabia against regional adversaries, I’d imagine there would be more of a focus on ensuring that any weapons sales would be defensive rather than offensive in nature,” Ulrichsen said.
A quarter of US weapons sales in the five years between 2014 and 2019 went to Saudi Arabia, up from 7.4 percent in 2010-2014, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Saudi Arabia began its military involvement in the war in Yemen in March 2015.
“I think the Biden administration can have a very positive impact on ending the war in Yemen,” said Gregory Johnsen, a former member of the UN Security Council Panel of Experts on Yemen. “Indeed, the US may be the only country, which – if it so chooses – can put enough diplomatic pressure on Saudi Arabia to end the war in Yemen.”
However, ending Saudi involvement in Yemen does not necessarily mean the wider conflict in the country will be over.
“Ending the Saudi-led war in Yemen is step one, but the next and much more difficult step is ending Yemen’s civil war and putting the country back together again,” Johnsen said.
“We should not overestimate what the Biden administration can do in relation to Yemen’s war,” Nadwa Dawsari, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, told Al Jazeera. “A political settlement under the current circumstances would further complicate Yemen’s war and play into the hands of the Houthis and, by default, Iran.” – by Abubakr Al-Shamahi
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/11/relationship-reassessed-joe-biden-and-saudi-arabia
(** B H)
THE TIME TO ACT ON YEMEN’S WATER CRISIS IS NOW
Even before Yemen found itself engulfed in its ongoing civil war, the country was battling another crisis—severe water scarcity. This resource shortage is a contributing factor to the country’s violence, yet little domestic and international attention is paid to the issue. Unless the underlying causes of the country’s water deficit are addressed, the current conflict will be more difficult to end.
As the conflict in Yemen moves into its sixth year, there’s an ever greater need to tackle the growing water crisis, which is not only an issue of dwindling availability, but also one of quality, accessibility and affordability. For decades, Yemen has experienced a paucity of water, but the current conflict has exacerbated the problem, posing serious threats to the country’s stability and people’s livelihoods. At worst, tension triggered by water insecurity could perpetuate the conflict, especially as this natural resource is further depleted in the absence of effective governance.
Currently, international NGOs operating in Yemen and the United Nations are primarily focused on ensuring the unobstructed delivery of humanitarian aid, including clean water supplies. There’s an urgency to facilitate water access and delivery because of the alarming situation on the ground where 11.2 million people are in dire need of clean drinking water and sanitation services. However, while humanitarian aid can relieve some immediate water needs, these efforts are not enough to address deeper concerns about water sustainability. Yemen’s water crisis is becoming more acute and requires urgent policy action. Finding long-term solutions to the water crisis in Yemen will require going beyond just meeting emergency water needs and shifting attention to sustainable water management practices and affordable and equitable service delivery.
Yemen is already at a disadvantage because of its semi-arid landscape. Unlike other countries in the region, Yemen has no permanent rivers. As a result, the country relies primarily on groundwater and aquifers for its agricultural irrigation and urban water consumption. Currently, across the country, groundwater is being depleted at twice the rate it’s being replenished. Population growth in recent years has made the problem worse. For several decades, Yemen’s per capita share of water resources has been declining. In 2014, it was down to about 80 cubic meters per person, compared to an average of 550 cubic meters in other Middle Eastern and North African countries. In the coming years, climate change will also exacerbate Yemen’s water scarcity, particularly if the country doesn’t develop strategies to mitigate the effects of rising temperatures.
However, Yemen’s water woes are about much more than the country’s geographic pre-disposition to drought. At the heart of the problem are years of failed government policies and mismanagement that encouraged inefficient water use. For example, fuel subsidies encouraged farmers and others to over-extract ground water using wells powered by gas that the government kept cheap. In many areas, it led to so-called “race to the bottom” competitions where neighbors tried to exhaust a water source before anyone else could. In a similar vein, a flooding of government-subsidized imported grains in recent decades is one reason domestic farmers began relying more on the lucrative cash crop qat, which is also very water intensive to grow. The cultivation of this widely popular mild narcotic leaf accounts for 37 percent of all water used for irrigation in Yemen.
Corruption and a lack of political will have only compounded the problem of having limited local and state water policies. Even prior to the current conflict, feeble government institutions failed to prevent the illegal drilling of water wells, despite a 2002 national law that requires permitting for the process. In the absence of strict government regulation and enforcement, water rights are often appropriated by means of bribery and patronage networks. In many cases, members of the influential elite class, such as government officials and tribal leaders (sheiks), are known to illegally drill their own wells with immunity. This has led to almost a near total privatization of Yemen’s water resources – by Hadil al-Mowafak
https://www.yemenpolicy.org/the-time-to-act-on-yemens-water-crisis-is-now/
(** B K P)
[from Dec. 2019] Speaking above Yemenis: A reading beyond the Tyranny of experts
How will historians a generation or two from now write about this war on Yemen? Will there be any interest in inspecting more deeply what happened, why, and under whose watch such a crime was committed? Or will future historians resort to repeating the dominant frames used to characterize (or ignore) this war on Yemen used today?
No doubt those considering a deeper look will first consult the media’s archives. What they will be surprised to see, perhaps, is how much this disaster in Yemen has been keptout of the daily news. By all accounts, those committing hundreds of billions of dollars to a war on Yemenis would prefer that little to no attention be spent on its atrocities. Corporate media have been happy to oblige.
Trying to answer why the images of emaciated children and the upwards of 18 million civilians threatened by starvation are not making headlines across the world could itself become the heart of any future study on Yemen’s war. Such a task will require,however, moving beyond the security-centered, international relations’ frames of analysis prevalent in the available scholarly literature today. Present-day scholars and experts whose salaries are paid by the very regimes imposing this war may prove unhelpful inexplaining the journalistic omerta future historians will wish to study.
Future historians will discover that it is rare to come across any analysis acknowledging, let alone explaining, the huge popular support for the armed rebellion led to halt Hadi’s ruinous economic ‘reforms’. Never mentioned as such, the biased catch all references to ‘the Houthi militias’ as the ones behind ‘the coup’ actively erases the possibility that there are deeper and broader sources of legitimacy for those resisting what has sinceMarch 2015 become a US-facilitated war on Yemen. Indeed, future historians may behard pressed to understand at all what motivates those engaged in this now almost five-year war if left with this crude binary of ‘Houthi militias’ vs. the ‘legitimate government of Hadi.’ Revealing, this misleading characterization is not for a lack of material – by Isa Blumi
https://www.academia.edu/41318194/Speaking_above_Yemenis_A_reading_beyond_the_Tyranny_of_experts
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
(A H)
Neither new cases of COVID-19, deaths nor recoveries recorded
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30522
(B H)
Yemen WASH Cluster COVID-19 Bulletin, 07 November 2020
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-07-november-2020-enar
(A H)
Film: Reopening the Isolation Center for Patients with COVID-19 in Aden to Receive New Cases
The isolation center for patients with suspected COVID-19 in Al Buraiqeh District in Aden -the interim capital of the Yemeni government -was reopened to receive new patients.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qazgvcmv43M
(B H)
Yemen - 2020 AWD / Cholera Response Dashboard - Weeks 1 - 44
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-2020-awd-cholera-response-dashboard-weeks-1-44
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(* A K)
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON NOVEMBER 11, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-november-11-2020-map-update/
Updates on Yemen, Nov. 10
https://english.iswnews.com/16222/latest-updates-on-yemen-10-november-2020/
MILITARY SITUATION IN YEMEN ON NOVEMBER 9, 2020 (MAP UPDATE)
https://southfront.org/military-situation-in-yemen-on-november-9-2020-map-update/
(A K P)
Again, internet service has stopped in #Marib since last night amid ongoing battles northwest the governorate. Not first time, and absolutely won't be the last. #Houthis always use telecommunication ,technology and other state institutions for their wars.
https://twitter.com/Alsakaniali/status/1327393276828274688
(B K P)
Criminals' Emirati spread in Socotra
goals are the division, occupation, control, forming militias and establishing prisons.
The occupied governorates entered a dark stand by condoning the acts of kidnappings, rape, immoral crimes, storming of homes, liquidations, and igniting wars between tools, whether Aden, Awabin, Taiz, and others.
The UAE was not satisfied with that, but the situation reached in it attempts to change the identity of the island of Socotra, naturalization and the formation of leaderships, camps and military bases in the service of the Zionist enemy and falsification of history and shading that (Socotra is of Emirati origin(.
Emirati criminals have reached the spread of drugs and hashish in exchange for projects painting schools and hospitals and holding engraving competitions Henna, armpit hair pulling, and other trifles, as if Aden had reached the luxury of Dubai.
But this thief is uprooting old trees and transporting them through trailers with their mud, and this is what has not happened in the history of the sanctity and thieves throughout history.
It is noteworthy that the Emirati thief has made use of his efforts and capabilities to steal the wealth of the Yemeni people in terms of oil, gas, and fish, disrupting the capabilities of the ports of Aden, Al-Mokha, Mukalla, Balhaf, and others.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3115980.htm
My remark: Houthis blaming the UAE.
(A P)
Joint Statement: World Says No to War on Yemen
People and organizations from the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Italy, and across the world, are coming together to call for an end to the war in Yemen and solidarity with the people of Yemen. We demand that right now our governments:
Stop foreign aggression on Yemen.
Stop weapons and war support for Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Lift the blockade on Yemen and open all land and sea ports.
Restore and expand humanitarian aid for the people of Yemen.
We call on people around the world to protest the war on January 25, 2021, just days after the U.S. presidential inauguration and the day before Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ Future Investment Initiative.
We ask individuals and organizations everywhere to call for protests — with masks and other safety precautions — in their towns and cities on that day and make clear that the WORLD SAYS NO TO WAR ON YEMEN.
https://scienceforpeace.ca/joint-statement-world-says-no-to-war-on-yemen/
(A P)
A team of journalists representing major western newspapers have arrived to Ataq, the provincial capital of Shabwa [Hadi-gov. held Southern Yemen; fighting with separatists]. Source: Al-Rashad Press
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
Shabwah governor: We assured, for the int'l press delegation visiting Shabwa, that we're happy with this visit from highly professional media institutions, and we trust the visit's outcomes to positively reflect on Shabwa, and we'll spare no effort to facilitate their mission and make it fruitful. (photos)
https://twitter.com/adeow2018/status/1326565588081254400
My comment: Obviously, this will be a propaganda show.
and
(A P)
The UAE forces controlling Yemen’s LNG plant of Balhaf have banned the European journalists from visiting the occupied facility. Source: Bawabati.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43202
(A P)
Expelling Saudis, Emiratis only way to restore Yemeni State: Nobel laureate
The Yemeni Nobel laureate on Tuesday called for expelling Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates from all Yemeni lands, and toppling the two Gulf states' dominance on the war-torn country.
Expelling the two countries and ending their interferences is the only way to restore the State and build a strong, stable and democratic Yemen, Tawakkol Karman added on Twitter.
The Istanbul-based leading activist in the Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Islah Party believes that the Kingdom and UAE have been carrying out a "dirty plot preplanned" before their military intervention in Yemen, with the purpose of "weakening the country and making it a seat for conflicts and disorder."
Early in 2019, her anti-Saudi remarks pushed Karman's Islah senior leaders living in Riyadh to issue an official statement criticizing the activist and renouncing her comments and stances, which they said did not represent the party.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21096.html
(B K P)
Die Gewaltspirale im Jemen durchbrechen
Wer kann im Jemen die Spirale der Gewalt durchbrechen? Die Amerikaner sind weg, und Deutschland, der größte Geldgeber humanitärer Hilfe, ist politisch bedeutungslos
Das Gebot der Stunde wäre es, die Gewaltspirale zu stoppen. Doch wer kann das? Deutschland war und ist der größte Geldgeber humanitärer Hilfe für den Jemen, hatte aber nie eine politische Bedeutung. Man überließ den US-Amerikanern das Feld. Sie sind jetzt weg. Es ist an der Zeit, das Vakuum zu füllen.
Mein Kommentar: Was für ein oberflächlicher Quatsch ist das denn? Die Amerikaner sind im Jemen bestimmt nicht „weg“. Schön wär’s.
(* B K)
UN: Over 1,500 Yemenis killed, injured in 9 months
From the beginning of 2020 until 31 October, a total of 34,160 migrants arrived in Yemen from the Horn of Africa, according to UN data.
Yemen has been locked in conflict since 2014 when the Houthis seized Sanaa, the capital, and then much of the country's north. Fighting escalated in March 2015 when the Saudi-led coalition intervened to restore the government of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.
The six-year-long war has killed 12,000 civilians, including hundreds of children and women, out of a total of 112,000 Yemenis who were killed since the conflict began, according to UN data.
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201111-un-over-1500-yemenis-killed-injured-in-9-months/
(A P)
UN experts: technical team must be allowed to avert oil spill disaster threatening Yemen
Independent technical experts must be granted immediate access to an abandoned, rusting oil tanker that threatens Yemen and the Red Sea with ecological catastrophe, UN human rights experts said today.
“It is vital that a UN technical team be permitted to board the FSO Safer if we are to have any hope of preventing the threat of a spill that could be four times worse than the historic Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska in 1989,” said Marcos Orellana, UN special rapporteur on toxics and human rights.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26498&LangID=E
and also https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1077562
and
(A P)
UN still waiting for access to stranded Safer tanker off Yemen
The United Nations said on Wednesday that it has yet to receive approval to access the Safer tanker stranded in the Red Sea off Yemen.
“Although discussions on access to Safer have been constructive, we are yet to receive the approvals needed for the mission. Given what is at stake, it is of the utmost importance that Ansar Allah give the United Nations the green light to proceed,” said UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths during a UN Security Council briefing on the humanitarian situation in the war-torn country.
https://www.arabnews.com/node/1761676/middle-east
(A P)
[Hadi] Gov’t official: Houthis continue hampering solution to Safer tanker
The government of Yemen said that time is running out o avert the looming catastrophe by the Safer tanker docking off Ras Issa Port in the Red Sea as the Houthis continue their defiance to permit repairing of the decaying tanker.
Acting Minister of Fishery Wealth, Fahd Kefayen, said that the Houthis continue hampering national and international efforts aimed at removing the crude oil from the tanker.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43143
and also https://english.aawsat.com/home/article/2619191/yemen-accuses-houthis-impeding-access-fuel
(* A K P)
Houthi rebels cut off vital humanitarian corridor
UN-brokered talks falter as landmines block aid route
Iran-backed Houthi rebels violated a deal brokered on Saturday by the office of the special envoy to Yemen Martine Griffiths, according to Captain Fuad Jubari, spokesperson of Al Dhalea military axis, in comments to The National.
The deal between Yemen’s warring parties was intended to reopen a major humanitarian corridor linking the provinces of Aden and Al Dhalea in Southern Yemen and stretching to the provinces of Sanaa and Ibb, in Houthi-held territory in northern Yemen.
“A team including representatives from the office of the UN special envoy to Yemen, the International Committee of the Red Crescent (ICRC) in Yemen and representatives from the government and the Coalition central command, met in Al Dhalea province on Saturday,” Captain Fuad Jubari said.
“They reached a deal to re-open the main road that links the provinces, starting from Sunday. Our forces lifted their posts along the road and paved the way for relief convoys, passengers, goods and medic teams to reach areas along the frontlines, in line with the recently signed deal,” Captain Fuad Jubari told The National on Monday.
Captain Jubari added that the Houthis had not simply blocked the road, but had actively sought to make it unusable.
“The rebels went far beyond violating the agreement, they went to plant new landmines along the road, deployed new checkpoints and spread snipers along it,” he said.
The government accused Houthi rebels of thwarting the deal and called on the international community to hold them accountable for the harsh conditions millions of civilians suffer in areas affected by the blockade, which was supposed to end on Sunday.
“Lifting the blockade along this major road matters to millions of people caught by war. Merchants and relief convoys from the northern provinces use this road to get access to Aden’s harbours,” Mohammed Al Waqidi, office manager of the Yemen Ministry of Human Rights in Al Dhalea told The National.
Residents of areas along the blocked road also expressed their disappointment that the Houthis had resumed hostilities in the area.
https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/houthi-rebels-cut-off-vital-humanitarian-corridor-1.1109058
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
(A K P)
Yemen commodity tracker (July - September 2020)
This quarterly tracker monitors commercial imports to Hudaydah and Saleef ports via the United Nations Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM). It also reports prices of basic food and fuel commodities as monitored by the World Food Programme. This edition covers the third quarter data of 2020. [July- Sept. 2020]
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-commodity-tracker-july-september-2020
(A K P)
Houthis say fuel crisis is over
The Houthi group on Wednesday said a 7-month fuel crisis in regions under its control and in western Yemen was over.
Executive director of the Sanaa-based Yemen petroleum company, Ammar Al-Adhru'e, said in a statement that people now can buy fuel for official prices and without queuing at filling stations.
The group has been accusing a Saudi-led coalition fighting in the country and the internationally recognised government of holding fuel ships in the Red Sea and preventing them from entering Hodeidah seaport.
On Monday, three ships carrying around 90.000 tons of benzene and diesel arrived at the port after they had been held by the coalition for months, it said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21097.html
(A K P)
[Hadi] Gov’t says Houthis use humanitarian measures to finance own terrorist activities
The Yemeni government has said the Houthi militants are using the humanitarian measures it has taken, to finance their own terrorist activities.
In a statement, the government’s Economic Council said the government had ensured “the flow of fuel shipments to the Houthi-held seaport of Hodeida” as a “humanitarian alleviation measure” for the population in Houthi areas, but the militia used the fuel supply “to secure finances for their terrorist activities against the government and the countries of the region and the world.”
“The government’s measures were a reaction to the UN Special Envoy’s demand … to help in paying the salaries of all civil servants, a crucial step to improve the humanitarian conditions,” it said.
and
(A K P)
[Hadi] Gov’t asks international community to hold Houthis responsible to fuel shortage
The Supreme Economic Council (SEC) asked the international community to assume responsibility towards holding the Houthis accountable for complicating the humanitarian situation because of their violations to the United Nations (UN) sponsored-agreement on the import of fuel products.
The SEC said that actions taken by the government on the flow of fuel to the Houthis-held Hodeida port indicate the government’s eagerness on alleviating suffering of citizens and to avert more humanitarian deterioration.
It indicated that the present fuel shortage in the Houthis-held areas is planned on purpose by the Houthis to escape the implementation of the UN-sponsored regulations on the fuel of imports to continue the smuggle of the fuel from Iran and use its revenues for their own use.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43144
My remark: New justifications for the Saudi blockade.
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(B H)
Film: Food has tremendous power. It can support unity or division, peace or war, stability or chaos. We asked 12 Yemenis what food means to them. I believe it could be one of the greatest peacebuilders of our time.
https://twitter.com/WFPChief/status/1327170586989084672
(B H)
Faisal al-Siraji, 38 years old, is a former journalist who now works as an ice seller, after working for years with nine newspapers and excelling as a journalist.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1327288674690732032
(* B H)
Yemen children with leukemia in dire need of medical supplies
For children who battle cancer, life here can be ruthless. Nearly six years of war and blockade have plunged Yemen deep into one of the world's worst humanitarian crises and left millions without health care. Cancer patients, including children, often have to wait in long lines and travel miles to get their vital treatment.
The Houthi-controlled health ministry in Sanaa said that the death rate of leukemia patients increased to nearly 50 percent because of the scarcity of medical staff, medicines, and equipment.
The treatment center in Sanaa is the only specialized hospital for children inflicted with blood diseases. Now, it is in dire need of medicines and other supplies as the blockade cut the support from humanitarian organizations outside the country.
"We are in an acute shortage of medicines because of the blockade. We have to call for the people to donate and help patients with leukemia and other blood diseases," Abdul-Rahman Al-Hadi, a hematologist at the center, told Xinhua.
Patients with deadly diseases were the most affected by the civil war, the doctor said, noting that many cancer patients could not afford skyrocketing medical bills or have no access to medical treatment at all.
http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-11/12/c_139511394.htm = https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/yemen-children-with-leukemia-in-dire-need-of-medical-supplies/ar-BB1aW9WF (with photos)
(* B H P)
Official figures reveal that 30 thousand fishermen have lost their incomes due to the war and as a result of the forces belonging to #UAE and the coalition preventing thousands of fishermen from fishing under the pretext of combating smuggling.
https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1326977313586565120
and
(B P)
[Sanaa gov.] Ministry of Fisheries: Countries of Aggression Prevents Fishermen in Socotra
The Ministry of Fisheries has condemned the systematic looting of fish wealth by the countries of the Saudi-Emirati aggression, in the Arab Sea and the Socotra Archipelago.
and also https://www.saba.ye/en/news3116033.htm
(B H)
Photo: Children and a teacher .. in the most beautiful image of Yemen ..
https://twitter.com/waleedmutawakil/status/1326866096440438784
(* B H)
UNICEF Yemen Humanitarian Situation Report reporting period 1-30 September 2020
Highlights
Escalation of armed conflict led to the displacement of an additional 13,680 people in seven governorates of Yemen. UNICEF and Rapid Response Mechanism (RRM) partners distributed 10,074 RRM kits to displaced families.
As of 1 Oct, 2,041 COVID-19 officially confirmed cases were reported, with an additional 591 associated deaths and 1,320 recovered cases. This brings the case fatality rate (CFR) to 29% - five times the global average. The officially confirmed cases were reported in 11 governorates in the South.
Between 1 Jan – 30 Sep 2020, 197,377 acute water diarrhoea (AWD)/cholera suspected cases and 62 associated deaths were reported, with a 0.03 percent CFR, which is a significant decrease compared with the same period of 2019.
UNICEF supported the response planning to the vaccine derived Poliovirus outbreak declared in Sa’ada at the beginning of August and procured 2.4 million doses of polio vaccine.
Funding Overview and Partnerships
UNICEF appeal is for $535 million as part of the 2020 Yemen Humanitarian Action for Children (HAC), which is aligned to the 2019 Yemen Humanitarian Response Plan (YHRP). As of 4 August 2020, total funding received from donors reached $ 708.8 million, only 22% of the total funding requirements for humanitarian and relief assistance in Yemen, which amount to $ 3.38 billion for the year 20201 . While UNICEF continues vigorous fundraising for its 2020 HAC appeal, it has received less than $62 million
(* B H)
Yemen could lose an entire generation of children to hunger, yet the world remains silent
Yemen is facing an unprecedented high level of malnutrition in children due to severe food shortages, as a direct result of war and the coronavirus pandemic. The United Nation (UN)'s latest survey estimates that 100,000 children aged under five in Yemen are at risk of dying. Heartbreakingly, this means that Yemen could lose an entire generation of children due to the hunger crisis unless urgent action is taken to facilitate more access to humanitarian aid and food supplies.
Worryingly, it is estimated that there are 1.5 million children living in the worst-stricken areas of South Yemen governed by the Yemeni government. The country has undergone five years of conflict since a Saudi-led coalition launched an assault against the Houthi rebels. However, the real victims of this war are innocent civilians and children who have had to face dire conditions. The Saudi-led intervention headed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, the United Arab Emirates and its allies, have protracted the conflict and caused what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis in the poorest country in the Middle East.
It is unthinkably harrowing that small children under the age of five are the worst hit by the impact of war, economic instability and malnutrition. Those allies in the West such as the UK and the US have played a role in this brutal war and have assisted Saudi Arabia in providing the arms which have killed hundreds and thousands of civilians, and impacted many young children who deserve a better future.
(* B H P)
Film by Press TV Iran: UN warns of looming catastrophe in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fd01oQrNJXU
(B H)
This is how students study in #Taiz governorate. #Yemen! They are facing rains, wind, dust and hot sun. Photos by @mohammed500s
https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1326587229729337346
(A H)
@monarelief's team in Hodeidah governorate in western #Yemen was able to reach out another 100 students with school backpacks. The project was funded by Partners Relief and Development in which we will target 1000+ students to encourage them to continue studying. (photos)
https://twitter.com/monarelief/status/1326611962634100737
(B H K)
[Sanaa gov.] Health Minister: Tumors Increased in Record Numbers due to Internationally Prohibited Weapons used by US-Saudi Aggression
Minister of Public Health and Population, Dr. Taha Al-Mutawakel, confirmed that the United Nations has failed to bring in basic medical equipment, noting that cancer treatment centers in Yemen witnessed an increase in number of cases since the start of the aggression. The bombardment with internationally prohibited weapons is mean reason for the increase.
Dr. Al-Mutawakel said, during the inauguration of a new cancer center in Kuwait Hospital in Sana'a, that the performance of the World Health Organization in Yemen is poor and it does not fulfill its duty to provide the most important medical needs, it must reconsider its action in the country, calling on the United Nations, at least, to allow the Ministry to purchase these devices to save what can be saved.
(B H)
Another 500 family food parcels distributed in Yemen this week! Thank you to our partners @monarelief and generous funding by @timothysykes and @karmagawa (photos)
https://twitter.com/PartnersRelief/status/1325995200838168576
(* B H)
Film: The perilous journey to get treatment in war-torn Yemen
A 55-year-old father travels twice a week from his village to Yemen’s capital Sanaa for his teenage son’s dialysis treatment.
18-year-old Ahsan Abdou suffers from kidney failure, and without a transplant the young Yemeni’s situation is dire.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/video/perilous-journey-get-treatment-war-torn-yemen
(B H)
Film: “Yemeni people need you" - UNHCR representative Jean-Nicolas Beuze on the crisis in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhR2TdEPqK0
(* B H)
Film: ADRA: Ärztliche Versorgung im Jemen ist Überlebensnotwendig
Mehr als die Hälfte aller Gesundheitseinrichtungen im Land funktioniert nicht mehr. Der Zugang zu Medikamenten ist kaum möglich. Das hat fatale, tödliche Folgen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQWripH9bsQ
(* B H)
OCHA: Yemen Humanitarian Update Issue 10 (October 2020)
HIGHLIGHTS
Marginal improvements in a restricted and complex operating environment
Humanitarian needs and cluster achievements
Uptick in hostilities and civilian casualties in third quarter of 2020
Humanitarian situation continues its downward spiral
The humanitarian situation has deteriorated further in 2020, driven by escalating conflict, an economic crisis and currency collapse and exacerbated by torrential rains and flooding, COVID-19 and a fuel crisis.
The operating environment remained restricted while the humanitarian response faces a huge funding shortfall.
With more than 24 million people – 80 per cent of the country’s population – in need of some form of humanitarian or protection assistance, Yemen remains the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
At its core, the humanitarian situation is driven by conflict, which intensified in 2020 causing civilian casualties and displacement – over 156,000 people have been displaced this year alone, adding to the 3.6 million existing
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-humanitarian-update-issue-10-october-2020-enar
(* B H)
Multi-Sectoral Rapid Humanitarian Needs Assessment, Al-Jabeen and Al-Jaafria Districts | Rayma Governorate, September 2020
Many villages in the districts of Al-Jabain and Al-Ja`faria in the governorate of Rayma have been subjected to torrential rains, which have led to the demolition of public housing and the flow of torrential torrents and rockfall, resulting in heavy human and material losses.
Progress Organization for Development monitored in the first days of the disaster the preliminary statistics of human and material damage in the affected areas, as the preliminary statistics indicated that the number of deaths rose to 29 people, more than 15 people were injured, two people were missing, and more than 300 people were forced to flee their homes. To escape death. While more than 6000 people have become trapped and threatened with death in the isolation of Badj and Bani Khattab in the Al-Jibeen District, and the Bani Ahmed isolation in the Al-Jaafariya District - Rima Governorate, due to the complete disruption of the car and pedestrian roads linking the affected areas, the market and other areas, which were swept away or buried as a result of rockfall. Dwellings were also destroyed on the heads of their human and livestock inhabitants,
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(A H K pS)
Film: A number of families from Al-Qaza villages have been displaced by the Houthi militia's bombing of their homes. southwest of Al-Duraihimi district, in Al-Hudaydah
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XHJ1EEYj2W8
(A H K pS)
Children are left crawling on the ground after being hit by indiscriminate shelling of Houth
Ali Awad Ghiber, a father whose heart is broken as he chokes while talking about his children, Aisha and Aayesh, while they crawl on the ground due to their incapability of walking like normal children, in addition to losing his daughter by shrapnel flying around. Heavy artillery hit by Houthi militias demolished the house of this family who lives in At-Tuhayata, as a result; the family fled to a small house surrounded by palm leaves as its wall.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hXDvxC_qKo
(* B H)
IOM Yemen Quarterly Update - Quarter 3: July - September 2020
IOM Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) teams estimate that some 153,000 people have been displaced by the conflict, natural disaster and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020; the majority of these — over 90,000 — have fled areas affected by clashes in and around Marib and Al Jawf. There were several mass casualty airstrikes in Hajjah and Al Jawf governorates, with civilian casualties from airstrikes doubling from the second to the third quarter in 2020, up to 94 from 47. The total civilian casualties between July and September 2020 is nearly 530 people. The situation is widening gaps across humanitarian sectors in Marib, where IOM site assessments indicate that some 200,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in overcrowded formal and informal sites are in need of sustained humanitarian support, and with over 500,000 people also estimated to be displaced within host communities.
The humanitarian and socioeconomic consequences of the conflict continue to be exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
As the country grapples with these challenges, conditions for stranded migrants have progressively deteriorated. During this quarter, migrant arrivals into Yemen remained low compared to 2019 mainly as a result of COVID-19 movement restrictions and border closures.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-yemen-quarterly-update-quarter-3-july-september-2020
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A K P)
Again the Houthi militia use mosques to appeal to the people in Sana’a to join the warfronts after the massive losses of the past days. Source: Khabar News Agency and other websites.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43202
(A P)
[Hadi] Gov’t condemns Houthis’ expulsion of academic’s family
“Houthi’s militia leader Ibrahim Al-Mutaa, expelled family of the Yemeni professor and archaeologist, Prof. Youssef Mohamed Abdullah, who is in Cairo for treatment, from his apartment in university campus, or to pay rent,” Al-Eryani wrote on his Twitter account.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43183
(A E P)
Prime Minister: 97% of Resources Controlled by Pro-Saudi-led Aggression Government in Riyadh
During the celebration of the National Statistics Day 2020, which was organized by the Central Bureau of Statistics and Monitoring today under the slogan "Better data for a better life." Prime Minister, Dr. Abdul Aziz Habtoor, said that 97% of the resources are controlled by pro-Saudi-led aggression government in Riyadh.
He indicated that Sana'a has been operating for five years and four months based on the 2014 budget and with only 7% of that budget. "Our mission is to strive to preserve state institutions to be unified and not divided, and not only in the political sphere, but in the face of aggression", he added.
(* A P)
Zentralbank: Zuständigen Behörden halten sich gegen Volkswirtschaft beteffende Praktiken durch Tadhamon Bank
Eine offizielle Quelle der Zentralbank von Jemen in Sanaa bestätigte, dass die zuständigen Behörden vor Vorfällen stehen, die die Volkswirtschaft betreffen und von der Tadhamon Bank unter Beteiligung von Korruptionsführern an der Zentralbank in Aden praktiziert wurden.
Die Quelle erklärte in einer Erklärung gegenüber der jemenitischen Nachrichtenagentur (Saba), dass die Solidaritätsbank in Zusammenarbeit mit den Korruptionschefs der Zentralbank in Aden die sogenannte saudische Einlage ausbeutete und illegale Einnahmen- und Anreicherungsoperationen durch Überweisung von Beträgen in harter Währung von dieser Einlage praktizierte, ohne dass die Waren für die ankommenden Beträge zugewiesen wurden. In seinem Namen, der in allen Gouvernoraten zu mehr Leid für das jemenitische Volk führt.
Die Quelle gab an, dass derzeit eine Untersuchung über weit verbreitete Spekulationen und den Schmuggel von Geldern im Ausland mit der Komplizenschaft derselben Korruptionschefs in der Zentralbank des Jemen in Aden läuft.
https://www.saba.ye/de/news3115975.htm
(* A P)
Houthis storm Tadhamon Bank in Sanaa
The Tadhamon International Islamic Bank on Thursday held the Central Bank of Yemen in the Houthi-controlled Sanaa fully responsible for serious consequences of cessation of its operations after the bank's head office was stormed by security members.
The move was a serious precedent of dealing with the banking system in the country, the bank said in a second statement in the past 72 hours.
It will affect the activities of humanitarian agencies that are partnering with us to deliver aid to the most vulnerable people, it said, affirming that it always operates in accordance with local and international laws and standards.
The bank is one of the largest banks in the country, with assets of more than $2 billion. It is part of the Hayel Saeed Anam Group, a dominant trading and industrial group for decades.
Members of the Houthi intelligence system stormed its head office on Wednesday and ordered to halt all operations in it and all branches.
Negative impacts of such practices would affect the whole banking system and could lead to the shutdown of all economic activities, the statement said, criticising pressure on Yemeni banks from the authorities in Sanaa and Aden.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21118.html
and also https://republicanyemen.net/archives/26187
and
(* A P)
CBY: competent authorities investigate over TIIB's corruption
An official source at the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) in the Capital Sana'a confirmed on Friday that the competent authorities are standing before events that effect the national economy.
The official explained that CBY affirmed that the authorities are investigating the events affecting the national economy practiced by Tadhamn Islamic international bank (TIIB) in Sana'a with the participation of the corrupt of CBY in the occupied province of Aden
The official said that the TIIB exploited the so-called Saudi financial deposit and exercised illicit gains.
He also explained that the TIIB transferred amounts in hard currency from the Saudi deposit without access to the goods allocated in its name, which led to further suffering for citizens in all province.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3116028.htm
(A P)
Senior Houthi leader Saleh Habrah in Sana’a calls rebels accuses clan of Abdulmalik al-Houthi of seeking to get rid of tribesmen in a loser war and calls on the militants to withdraw from the warfronts against the government. Multiple websites reported this story attributing the stance to increasing rivalry within Houthi militia.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
(A P)
Nine year old Abdurahman says in the Houthi school, a basement of Al-Saleh mosque in Sana’a, he and his classmates are continuously shown during the religious lessons flashes of the “the execution chair used by former” president Ali Saleh with blood on the chair allegedly belonging to Saleh’s victims. The Houthis use the indirect tactic to arouse extremism among the young pupils. Source of the story:Yemen Voice.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
(A P)
Sana’a: Houthi extremists torture own loyalist to death
Sources close to Abduljalil Izzi Hashem Al-Wazir (pictured), a judge in the theocratic militia’s self-styled judiciary, told al-Asimah Online news website on Wednesday that he had just died of torture after three days of detention in the “Criminal Investigation” jail in Sana’a.
Marks of torture were noticed on his body, said the sources adding that he fell out with a fellow senior militiaman before he was kidnapped and thrown into the jail.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43169
(A P)
Child dies of suspected torture in Houthi jail
A child has reportedly died of torture in a Houthi jail in Sana’a, months after his enforced disappearance, Almotamar Press news website reported quoting local sources.
The sources said the theocratic Houthi militia has notified the family of Ali Marzook Salem Aljaradi (below the age of 18) from eastern Sanaa’s Nehm outskirt, to come to collect his body, solving, among many, the mystery of the boy’s disappearance in May 2020. Before that, the family was not able to know the whereabouts of their son,” said one source.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43168
and also https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43168
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43184
and
(A P)
Yemen: Man kidnapped and tortured to death in Houthi prison
and
(A P)
Yemeni abductees mothers blame Houthis for prisoner death
The Yemeni non-governmental abductees mothers league (AML) on held the Houthi group fully responsible for the death of a young abductee at a Houthi jail in Sana'a City.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21139.html
(A P)
Houthi government criticises Yemen remarks by Saudi ambassador to Jordan
The Houthi government on Wednesday criticised remarks by the Saudi ambassador to Jordan on Yemen as a failed attempt to show that Riyadh remains the policeman implementing orders and policies of the White House and US NATO allies in the region.
The ambassador's remarks were just a media attempt to court the US president-elect Joe Biden, Houthi foreign minister Hisham Sharaf said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21101.html
(A K P)
Houthi group appoints head of Yemeni media union ambassador to Syria
The Ansar Allah group, known as the Houthis, on Wednesday appointed head of the Yemeni media union Abdullah Sabri as its new ambassador to Syria.
Sabri was injured along with members of his family in a Saudi-led airstrike on their home in downtown the capital Sanaa in May 2019. His mother and two of his sons were killed in the attack.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21104.html
and by Saba: https://www.saba.ye/en/news3115785.htm
(A H P)
Mohammad Al-Houthi Calls on WFP's Officials, Donors to Put Limit for Its Inhumane Practice
A member of the Supreme Political Council, Mohammad Ali Al-Houthi, criticized the World Food Program’s policies, noting that the program distributes its aid according to a political classification, preventing those who reject the US's policies
Al-Houthi accused the Director of the World Food Program, David Beasley, of preventing aid from reaching Sana'a and other governorates, and of being behind not allowing the entry of oil derivatives under the pretext of disagreement.
He said that Beasley’s talk about reducing aids only in areas of Ansarullah control confirms reality that they were stopped for political reasons.
A member of the Supreme Political Council called on program's officials and donors to put a limit for the inhumane practice of the World Food Program, calling for the need for humanitarian work to remain humanitarian.
and also https://twitter.com/fadhlalmahdi/status/1326970167247724546
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21141.html
and
(A H P)
Hodeidah Authorities Hold Hundreds of Expired-Shipments Containers Belonging to World Food Program
The specialized authorities in Hodeidah port decided to hold over 326 containers containing medicines, nutritional supplements, edible oils, dates biscuits and peas belonging to the World Food Program until they are re-exported to the country of origin.
The Director of the Humanitarian Affairs and International Cooperation authorities in Al- Hodeidah Governorate, Jaber Al-Razhi, explained that after the inspection processes for the containers and their shipments of food and medicine were found to be unfit for human use and expired.
Al-Razhi pointed out that 16 containers included shipments of medicines for chronic diseases, Ampoules of distilled water, vials, tetracycline, ampicillin, erythromacin are expired and imported for the World Health Organization. 300 containers, containing US edible oil, 10 containers of baby food supplements, poorly manufactured date biscuits and peas, are not suitable for human consumption.
He added despite the warnings of the Supreme Council and the Administration and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs to the World Food Program office not to import such materials that violate the specifications and standards, WFP office insisted on importing them and distributing them to the poor and needy people, thinking that they will avoid inspectors of the authorities of the province.
and also https://www.aa.com.tr/en/middle-east/houthis-seize-over-300-aid-containers-in-yemen/2042198
Films: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0U80lXv5NU
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_340GJBp9tw
(* A H P)
WFP: Yemen’s ‘new chapter’ as Houthis accept aid safeguards
The UN food aid organisation said a biometric system would help get food to 150,000 needy Yemenis in Houthi-run areas
Top UN humanitarian David Beasley on Wednesday said Yemen’s Houthi rebels had finally agreed to roll out a long-delayed scheme to deliver food to Yemeni families without it falling into the hands of militants.
Mr Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, said a biometric system would help get food to 150,000 needy Yemenis in Houthi-run areas while ensuring that aid was not diverted elsewhere.
Should the scheme succeed, it could be expanded to include $500 million worth of cash transfers to struggling Yemenis in 2021 – a liquidity boost that could prop up a war-ravaged economy and a tumbling riyal, said Mr Beasley.
“On Sunday, we finally got the Ansar Allah authorities to come forward on the biometric registration of beneficiaries in Sanaa city,” Mr Beasley told a virtual UN Security Council meeting, using the official name for the Iran-backed movement.
“This is a pilot project of 150,000 beneficiaries and I like to think this is a major step forward, a new chapter of co-operation between all the parties in Yemen, and one which will allow us to scale up and roll out biometric registration in Ansar Allah areas as quickly as possible to give the donors the confidence to provide fresh funds.”
My comment: Hmmmm. There are very good reasons to reject a biometric registration of anyone, not to speak of a whole polulation: Their complete data now will come into the hands of the Google/Facebook/Amazon empire.
(A P)
A woman and a child were injured in fire shooting by the Houthi militia in Ibb. Source: Al-Sahwa Net.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43146
(A P)
Yemeni political commentator Ali Albukhaiti said the Iran-backed Houthi militia is determined to confiscate his property in the rebel-held capital, Sana’a, by assigning his brother to confiscate it with no legal justification (photos)
https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1326109524906881024
(A P)
Prostitution networks and crime rates are increasing in Houthi-run regions.
https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1326214000175165440
(A P)
Court issues death sentence for convict in connection with aggression
The Criminal Appeals Court in the capital Sana'a upheld on Monday a death penalty for a convicted for communicating with a foreign country against Yemen.
In the session presided over by the court's head Judge Abdullah al-Najjar, the court ruled to execute the convict Hadi al-Maslamani for aiding the Saudi enemy and its allies in its aggression against the country.
In November 2018, the Criminal Court in the capital Sanaa convicted al-Maslamani of communicating with a foreign country and drug trafficking.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3115623.htm
cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government
Aden verbleibt in der Hand der Separatisten im Süden. Ihre medien verbreiten eine große Menge von parteiischen Berichten, die das Narrativ der Separatisten überihren Hauptgegner, die Islah Partei (genannt "Muslim-Bruderschaft"), über die Kämpfe in Abyan und Shabwa, ihre Herrschaft in Aden und den von ihnen kontrollierten Gebieten verbreiten.
Aden remains in the hands of southern separatists. Their media are spreading a bulk of biased reports, showing their narrative of their foes from Islah Party (labeled “Muslim Brotherhood”), the fighting at Abyan and Shabwa, their self-rule at Aden and the areas under their control.
(* A K P)
Dozens of fighters killed, wounded in south Yemen fighting
Dozens of fighters were killed and injured when the government and southern transitional council forces fought fierce battles in Yemen's southern province of Abyan on Friday.
The battles took place in the areas of Al-Tariyah and Al-Sheikh Salim east of the capital city of Zinjibar, local sources said.
Haitham Al-Shabahi, chief of a squadron in the third support brigade of the council, was among those killed, the sources said, adding that military vehicles and equipment from both sides were destroyed as well.
The violence comes amid faltering talks to form a new government in accordance with the Riyadh agreement which was signed last year.
Political sources familiar with the talks said some members in a Saudi-led coalition fighting in the country are pressuring to amend military and security provisions in the agreement, according to the New Arab.
The Yemeni government insists on implementing the military and security part of the agreement before forming the government, a demand which the UAE-backed council is objecting to.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21150.html
and by the separatists:
(A K P)
Brotherhood's militias continue to breach Abyan ceasefire
The southern armed forces repulsed a large-scale attack on their positions in Abyan on Friday, launched by the militias of Islah party, the military arm of Muslim Brotherhood organization within Yemen's legitimacy.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30518
and
(A K P)
Brotherhood's militias suffer major defeat in Abyan
The Islah party's militias, the military wing of Muslim Brotherhood organization within Yemen's legitimacy have suffered a major defeat in Abyan on Friday following a failed attack on the locations under the control of the southern armed forces on Shuqra fronts, military official said.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30520
and
(A K P)
Shabwa receives killed militants of Abyan's battle
Many dead bodies and injured fighters of the pro-government Muslim Brotherhood's militias were sent to hospitals in Shabwa province after suffering a major defeat in Abyan on Friday following a failed attack on the locations under the control of the southern armed forces.
Local sources said that a number of ambulance vehicles arrived in Ataq city carrying dead bodies and injured soldiers of the Yemeni legitimacy.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30524
(A K P)
The Tihami Resistance Force accuse Tareq Saleh [a supposed ally in the Western Coast] of assassinating their leaders. Source: Aden Net.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43202
(* B P)
Over 1,000 Yemenis held in illegal Saudi and Emirati prisons
Over 1,000 Yemeni citizens have been imprisoned and detained in several Saudi and Emirati forces-run secret jails in Yemen’s southern provinces, according to a reported published by the Arabic post website.
“The majority of the detainees inside prisons are opponents of Saudi and UAE policies, and have been accused of “coordinating terrorist operations”,” the report added.
According to the report, the most important prisons used by Saudi Arabia to punish and eliminate anyone who opposes its policies is located in the city of Seiyun, in Hadhramaut province.
The report affirmed that dozens of Yemenis have been forcibly held for up to three years, without any contact with their families.
According to informed sources, the Saudi officers responsible for the judicial investigations in the prison often practice the most horrific forms of torture against detainees, including severe beatings, electric shocks and water-based torture.
https://hodhodyemennews.net/2020/11/12/over-1000-yemenis-held-in-illegal-saudi-and-emirati-prisons/
(A K P)
UAE warplanes break sound barrier over a sit-in by Shabwa tribesmen to intimidate them into leaving their protest camp. The tribesmen demand the UAE military commanders and the UAE Shabwani Elite militia to be held accountable for a January 2019 raid of Al-Hajar village in which nine tribesmen were arbitrarily killed. Source: Source: Alharf 28 and other websites.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
(A P)
Military Prosecutor in Marib files several charges against Iranian militant Hassan Eyrlo in Sana’a. Source: Multiple website
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
My remark: Eyrlo is the Iranian ambassador to the Sanaa government.
(A P)
Security Belt militiamen killing of donkey goes viral, draws wide condemnation
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43171
(A P)
STC holds lecture on good governance
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30507
My comment: LOL. What a joke.
(A P)
Hadi: Yemen, US face common challenges; terrorist, Iran interferences
Yemen and the United States commonly face terrorism and the Iranian interferences in Yemen and the region, President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi said Tuesday at meeting with the US special envoy, Eliot Brahms, and ambassador to Yemen Christopher Henzel in Riyadh.
Yemen's President hailed the strategic relations between his country and the US in the face of a group of "common challenges linked to terrorism and the Iranian interferences in Yemen and the region," according to the Riyadh-based Saba.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21098.html
My comment: LOL.
(A P)
Young man tortured to death in Islah-run prison in Shabwa
Local news websites and sources said that Saeed Awad al-Foqaish bin Rashid was abducted by the gunmen of the Islah militia and then taken to Ataq prison where he died as a result of torture and ill-treatment.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/30503
(A P)
Southern Yemeni activist leader documents signs of increased Emirati occupation in Socotra
Adel al-Hassani, a former detainee in a UAE person and a leader in the so-called Southern Resistance, reported on Tuesday witnessing an Emirati offical welcoming another official at the airport of Yemen’s occupied Socotra island.
Al-Hassani posted video footage showing the men exchanging talks and praising the occupation for the support of the airport.
“This is a full-fledged occupation guarded by the Southern Transitional Council (STC)’s soldiers who brought the Emirates from outside the island with the promise of profits. Of course, the only thing the UAE occupation provided to the airport was some chairs,” he tweeted.
(A K P)
Emirati-backed separatists erect new military camp in Yemeni Socotra
The Southern Transitional Council (STC) has erected a new camp for its forces in the Yemeni southeastern governorate of Socotra, website of the Emirati-backed movement said Monday.
Head of the separatist STC in Socotra inaugurated a new camp for the Security Belt (SB) forces in the island, the website reported.
The SB forces are "the safety valve for our armed forces, the iron grip and lofty castle that guard the governorate from abusing hands, and the rock scattering all conspiracies against security and stability," Rafat al-Thaqali added.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21069.html
(* B P)
Riyadh Agreement ... New Colonial Tool for Aggression in Southern Governorates
The Media Center for the Southern Governorates monitored the movements of the countries of aggression in the southern governorates during the period after the announcement of the agreement in Riyadh. It revealed that the countries of the aggression coalition used the so-called "Riyadh Agreement" as a cover for the implementation of a dangerous colonial agenda, after Saudi Arabia had failed in controlling the southern governorates since independence on the 30th of November 1967.
Riyadh transferred thousands of Saudi soldiers to Aden without mentioning the tasks of those forces, most of them moved by land and established militias loyal to them in Aden to strengthen its military presence. In the first year of the agreement, Saudi Arabia transported more than 25 modern weapons cargo by air and land, in addition to four arms shipments by sea in the port of Aden, during the same period.
Last August, the Center observed that warships believed to be Saudi carrying out a secret military landing operation on the coasts of Shaqra in Abyan Governorate, and this coincided with the defeat of al-Qaeda and Daesh by the Army and the Popular Committees in in Al-Bayda governorate, with the aim of transporting Foreign terrorist criminal leaders, in addition to reinforcing terrorist organizations with money and weapons in Abyan.
Under the same title, the aggression provided the complete cover for the withdrawal of the Takfiri individuals from Ould Rabi` district in Al-Baydha to a number of directorates in the governorates of Abyan and Shabwah, reaching Hadramout. It integrated terrorist organizations into some camps loyal to Riyadh, and perhaps the supporting the internationally wanted terrorist Saad bin Ataf Al-Awlaki, by so-called leadership of the Aggression Coalition in Aden, with a recent shipment of weapons is another evidence.
During the first year of the Shame Agreement, in which the so-called government of Hadi and the mercenaries of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi handed over the national sovereignty in the south of the country to the occupying countries, the coalition of aggression was able to implement a destructive series that affected the infrastructure, as Saudi interests met with the Emirates, disrupting the ports on the Arabian Sea and the Gulf Aden.
After the Riyadh agreement, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi shared control over the ports of Aden and the other southern ports, and during the past months, the coalition of aggression imposed new measures represented by the arrest of ships coming to the port of Aden that were subjected to inspection in the Saudi port of Jeddah for several days, extorting the owners of commercial shipments, leading to the suspension of the activity of a number of international shipping lines in Aden port for the benefit of UAE ports.
My remark: A Houthi viewpoint.
(A K P)
As clashes with the government forces renew, the STC has deployed huge military reinforcements to Zunjubar of Abyan
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43146
and
(A K P)
The terrorist brotherhood militia suffers heavy losses in Abyan
https://en.smanews.org/south-arabia/the-terrorist-brotherhood-militia-suffers-heavy-losses-in-abyan/
My remark: How the separatists tell it.
(* A K P)
STC suspends participation in talks on Riyahd agreement implementation
The southern transitional council on Tuesday suspended its participation in talks with the internationally recognised government on the implementation of the Riyadh agreement as fierce clashes renewed between the forces of the two sides in the southern province of Abyan.
The two sides agreed in July to a mechanism to accelerate the agreement which was signed late last year and have since been in talks on forming a new government and ending tensions and violence in the south.
The council's negotiation delegation told Saudi Arabia it was leaving Riyadh and that the council was no longer committed to a ceasefire in Abyan following a cowardly attack on its forces, media outlets loyal to the council said.
We will not wait forever for the new government to be formed, the delegation told Saudi Arabia, accusing parties in the government of obstructing the implementation of the agreement, according to the reports.
Member of the council, Salim Al-Awlaki, wrote on Twitter: "The leadership of the southern transitional council has acted responsibly and made concessions to form the new government, but the other side has bet on time to prepare for a new round of war".
Early today, the forces of the two sides exchanged heavy fire in the areas of Al-Tariyah and Al-Sheikh Salim east of Abyan's capital Zinjibar as more STC reinforcements arrived, local sources said.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21066.html
and also https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20201111-yemen-stc-withdraws-from-riyadh-consultations/
My comment: Oups… I had expected this – but not so early!!
cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks
(A P)
It was shocking to see #Sudan among states opposing the resolution renewing & strengthening the mandate of #GEE. The new leadership of Sudan @SudanPMHamdok should not block accountability efforts for violations committed by all warring parties in #Yemen (image)
https://twitter.com/MwatanaEn/status/1326932776403099649
(* A P)
Saudi Arabia intensifies moves to end war in Yemen
US special envoy to Iran, Elliot Abrams, met in Riyadh with Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Saudi Deputy Defence Minister, responsible for the Yemeni file, Prince Khaled bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia is moving on more than one front to expedite the Yemen settlement process, diplomatic sources told The Arab Weekly.
Riyadh, the sources say, is working on two fronts, the first concerns helping put some order back in the internal affairs of the Yemeni government and its allies, and the second concerns the acceleration of negotiations in the direction of signing the “joint declaration” between the Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthis under UN and international parties, despite the obstacles that still stand in the way of the initiative.
The sources indicated that Britain and the European Union intend to submit the revised version of the declaration drafted by the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to UN Security Council and have it adopted as a binding project.
Indications are increasing that the Arab coalition wants to achieve a breakthrough in the Yemeni war file before the end of this year, by preparing the appropriate ground for closing the file of the war, on the basis of protecting the region’s national security against Iranian threats and bypassing the conflict that has been going on for six years.
Saudi Arabia, which leads the Arab coalition in Yemen, is seeking to prepare the Yemeni actors and forces opposing the Houthi coup to face the upcoming transformations of the next stage, by strengthening the fractured “legitimacy” front through the mechanism to accelerate the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement concluded between the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council in November 2019 and pushing towards announcing the new Yemeni government headed by Moein Abdel-Malek.
https://thearabweekly.com/saudi-arabia-intensifies-moves-end-war-yemen
My comment: This obviously is not serious at all. There is hardly any attempt to arrive at peaceful terms with the Houthis (what would imply to accept their rule in Northern Yemen).
(* A P)
Most Urgent Task in Yemen Is to Prevent Widespread Famine, Humanitarian Affairs Chief Tells Security Council, as Speakers Push for Nationwide Ceasefire
Yemen is again teetering on the brink of famine, senior United Nations officials told the Security Council during a 11 November videoconference meeting, reiterating their calls for donors to scale up relief funding and for the warring parties to sign the Joint Declaration for a nationwide ceasefire, economic and humanitarian measures and the resumption of peace talks.
[Survey of 3 beriefings: in full: below; statements of representatives (the blabala as usual; 3 in full below) and Hadi government’s usual propaganda]]
https://www.un.org/press/en/2020/sc14352.doc.htm
and a short survey of 3 briefings, in full: below: https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/11/1077422?oih80u
(* A P)
Briefing to United Nations Security Council by the Special Envoy for Yemen – Mr. Martin Griffiths, 11 November 2020
I have been mediating the text of the Joint Declaration for many months. I have been carrying out discussions virtually and, when practical, shuttling between the parties. It has been a painstaking process, which has faced many challenges along the way as you know. The parties have remained engaged throughout and I thank them for that.
There is an often-repeated maxim in conflicts around the world that the parties involved must take ownership of the solution for it to be workable and for peace to be sustained. And Yemen is no exception to this maxim. The conflict is between the Yemeni parties. Only serious and deliberate commitments by their leaders can bring this conflict to a close. It is now time for them to take the final decisions required to bring the negotiations on this Joint Declaration to fruition.
I have been moving back and forth between the parties in search of finality on this Joint Declaration for several weeks. The same challenges have been coming up repeatedly, particularly with regard to the economic and humanitarian measures, as you know, the second item within that overall agreement. And I have been working of course with each party to find solutions. But in the end, I am here to say, I am the mediator and not the negotiator. And the parties need to negotiate with each other, rather than with me
and indeed I hope soon to bring the parties together again for a further meeting in that series. I am becoming convinced that perhaps this is exactly what is needed in the case of the Joint Declaration itself, an opportunity for the parties to explain to each other their positions and together to reach the compromises needed. I will be discussing this and other options with the parties in the near time.
No doubt, the issues in the Joint Declaration are more challenging and more fundamental to the politics of this conflict and the situation on the ground and I don’t underestimate the challenge. But the parties know the issues well, Madam President. We and they have been over this ground many times. And with determination I believe they can reach an agreed path towards a solution and an agreement on that Joint Declaration.
And overall, I must underline that there is no better option than that ceasefire, combined with a return nationally to the political process, that is essential for the parties to create stability on all those frontlines. And that is what they can bring to the Yemeni people through the Joint Declaration.
I turn to the vexed issue of the SAFER tanker, which I know Mark will also be referring to, which is long overdue a solution. Discussions with Ansar Allah have been slower than an issue of this urgency and magnitude requires.
As the conflict in Yemen has become prolonged, again as we discussed last time, broader stability across the country has become an ever more pressing concern, not least in the southern governorates. One year ago, the Government of Yemen and the Southern Transitional Council signed the Riyadh Agreement.
We desperately need that agreement to work – for the sake of the Yemeni people, for the sake of the south, and for the sake of the process that you have entrusted to me – and of course again, I call upon the parties to swiftly implement it.
(* A H P)
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock - Briefing to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Yemen, 11 November 202
The most urgent task in Yemen today is to prevent widespread famine.
Data released last week have confirmed – again – that the risk is growing. As you will hear from David, malnutrition has never been worse. In some parts of the country, one child in four is now acutely malnourished.
Words like “acutely malnourished”, “food insecurity” and “excess mortality” are dispassionate, neutral, technical terms that obscure the horrors inflicted by famine on the body and on the soul.
So how do the people, the actual human beings, we describe in these technical terms actually experience them?
With no food, the body’s metabolism slows down to preserve energy for our vital organs. Hungry and weak, people often become fatigued, irritable and confused.
The immune system loses strength. So as they starve, people – especially children – are likelier to fall sick or die from diseases that they may have otherwise resisted. There is no shortage of diseases in Yemen that will prey on these weakened immune systems.
They include cholera, COVID-19, other respiratory infections and illnesses like malaria, dengue and diphtheria.
For those who manage to escape disease – but still find nothing to eat – their vital organs will start to wither and then fail.
All of us – parties to the conflict, Security Council members, donors, humanitarian organizations and others – should do everything we can to stop this. Time is running out.
We prevented famine two years ago. To do so again, the world must act now on the five issues I will brief you on again today: 1) protection of civilians, 2) humanitarian access, 3) funding for the aid operation, 4) the economy and 5) progress towards peace.
First, protection of civilians.
Fighting continues along 48 front lines across the country, with the fiercest clashes occurring recently in Marib, Al Jawf, Taizz and Al Dhale’e.
The prospects of further escalation in Marib, where 1 million displaced people are living, or renewed clashes in Hudaydah, whose port is a lifeline for millions in the north, remain deeply concerning.
A nationwide ceasefire, as we have long advocated, would go a long way to protecting civilians. It would also help stop the slide towards famine, as data confirms the worst hunger is in conflict-affected areas. The Secretary-General has reiterated the call he made in March for a global ceasefire specifically for Yemen.
Madam President, the second issue is safe, rapid and unimpeded humanitarian access.
Short survey: https://www.unocha.org/story/un-humanitarian-chief-briefs-security-council-yemen-1
Briefing in film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKOGtBKeioE
and media report: https://www.aa.com.tr/en/americas/yemenis-being-starved-says-un-humanitarian-chief/2040748
(* A H P)
WFP Chief warns of looming famine as Yemen faces countdown to catastrophe
We are on a countdown right now to a catastrophe in Yemen. The people have been ravaged by years of conflict-fuelled hunger and malnutrition. Now, there’s a toxic combination taking place of surging violence, a deepening of the economic and currency collapse, and COVID-19 is ratcheting up the misery to a whole new level.
So we have got to get the world to open its eyes, to realize what we’re truly seeing in the unfolding humanitarian disaster -- before it’s too late. If we choose to look away, there’s no doubt in my mind Yemen will be plunged into a devastating famine within a few short months.
The truth is... we have been here before, we were here just a few years ago. I briefed the Security Council on Yemen in 2018 and 2019 with Mark Lowcock. We did almost the same dog-and-pony show. We sounded the alarm then. In November 2018 I warned of the horrors that innocent civilians were forced to endure and today, quite frankly their suffering is even more pitiful than then and than ever.
But, in the two years since that time, so much of our good work is being wiped out. And, once again, famine is knocking on the door. Let me tell you in part why.
Since 2018, it seems like our people have spent countless days, weeks and months negotiating with the Ansar Allah authorities for access to the areas they control, and for permission to set up the monitoring systems that donors rightly expect in return for their taxpayer dollars.
Instead of being able to focus on getting life-saving food assistance to the people who desperately need it, we’ve spent the past two years trying to overcome these unnecessary obstructions.
Even worse, the endless delays caused major donors to lose confidence that we would be able to ensure that the right people were getting the support they need. And the contributions were reduced. We had clearly explained to the Ansar Allah authorities that, with all the increased demands around the world due to Covid and economic deterioration, the last thing we needed was this kind of games. Because donors have to make decisions on where the most efficient and effective use of those tax-payer dollars are. So, as a result, in April, we were forced to cut rations to 9 million people living in areas controlled by the Ansar Allah authorities. You can only imagine what’s going to happen to people. It’s not rocket science. Each family now receives a full ration every two months, instead of every month. It just breaks my heart.
As Mark said, let me give a glimmer of hope because we did have a breakthrough just three days ago. I’m grateful that on Sunday we finally got the Ansar Allah authorities to come forward on the biometric registration of beneficiaries in Sana’a City.
https://www.wfp.org/news/wfp-chief-warns-looming-famine-yemen-faces-countdown-catastrophe
and film by Beasley: https://twitter.com/WFPChief/status/1326506209784967168 = https://www.facebook.com/135161246541513/videos/378861270096208/
and
(A P)
Remarks at a UN Security Council Briefing on the Situation in Yemen
Ambassador Kelly Craft, Permanent Representative, U.S. Mission to the United Nations
Martin, last month you expressed cautious optimism following the prisoner exchange between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, and a reduction in fighting in and around Marib and Hudaydah. Thank you for what you are doing to resolve this tragic situation through diplomatic means.
Mark, your remarks about the devastating truth about hunger and famine were deeply moving. And as painful and disturbing as it is to hear them, you owe it to us, as you do with every briefing, to bring the truth home, so thank you for bringing the truth to the Council. This Council needs to take this to heart and do everything we can for the Yemeni people.
And David, your passionate plea for funds and laying out your vision, which can be achieved with international support, really holds each of us accountable. So, I hope, like Christoph said, that we each use our contacts to be able to bring in more funding for this very important cause.
These successes, due in no small part to your efforts, remind us that the United Nations and the actions of this Council have real-world impact.
My comment: What a document of hypocrisy by the main force supplying arms to this war and even further inflating this war by various ways of support to the Saudi coalition.
and
(A P)
Responding to the humanitarian crisis in Yemen
Statement by Ambassador James Roscoe, Acting UK Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN, at the Security Council briefing on Yemen
But as you say, Mr Griffiths, we continue to see spikes in violence - in particular the Houthis continue to launch persistent missiles and drone attacks at Saudi Arabia and to pursue further territorial gains in Yemen; casting doubt over the Houthis’ commitment to peace
But as you say, Mr Griffiths, we continue to see spikes in violence - in particular the Houthis continue to launch persistent missiles and drone attacks at Saudi Arabia and to pursue further territorial gains in Yemen; casting doubt over the Houthis’ commitment to peace
Another necessary step is the implementation of the Riyadh Agreement and so the United Kingdom calls on the parties to rapidly form an inclusive cabinet and implement the necessary military reforms
But we heard today about the dire humanitarian situation. Several sets of data were released last week, and it’s clear that the risk of famine is growing.
We know how bad it’s been. It’s getting worse.
https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/responding-to-the-humanitarian-crisis-in-yemen
My comment: A document of blatant hypocrisy: Britain as an actually warring party in the Yemen war, having inflated the war by arms supplies and various support for the Saudi coalition, mimes the role of a peace broker and humanitarian force. Actually, it’s a rogue state.
and
(A K P)
De-escalation is needed in Yemen
STATEMENT BY MR. NICOLAS DE RIVIERE,
PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF FRANCE TO THE UNITED NATIONS
It is high time we see a political settlement for Yemen.
There must be a cessation of hostilities and a new government musdt be formed.
As Mark Lowcock and David Beasley have stated, the humanitarian situation continues to worsen: the figures speak for themselves. The spectre of famine is looming yet again.
We must therefore act collectively to avoid such a catastrophe. Here I would like to commend the outstanding work done by the humanitarian actors
https://onu.delegfrance.org/De-escalation-is-needed-in-Yemen
My comment: What a hypocrisy by Saudi Arabia’s third arms supplier. By this, France has inflated the Yemen War since almost 6 years now.
and
(A P)
Houthi official addresses UN envoy: We need solution not occupation
A member of the Houthi Supreme Political Council on Thursday criticized the UN special envoy to Yemen for his briefing to the Security Council on efforts aimed at political solution in the war-torn country.
Envoy Martin Griffiths described the war as interior issue and failed to mention the Arab coalition's involvement, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi added.
Like conflicts around the world, warring parties have to be the solution authors, if they want an applicable solution and want sustainable peace, Griffiths told the UNSC.
For al-Houthi, the "envoy didn't lie here, but he didn't tell the truth in describing the issue as internal and keeping silent at the aggressor countries officially participating" in the war.
"We presented every solution," the Houthi official said. "We need a solution, but not occupation."
https://debriefer.net/en/news-21137.html
and
(A P)
[Hadi gov.] Yemen ambassador: Why does Griffiths ignore the issue of corpses in Houthi jails?
Yemen’s ambassador to the UNESCO has slammed the silence of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths at the Houthi torturing of prisoners so often that the news of new corpses handed over to families are coming consecutively.
“More than 80 hostages entered the Houthi jails alive, but were evicted dead,” Mohammed Jumayh said in a tweent on Friday.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43201
(A P)
Multiple websites reported on the tweet of the chief of the [Hadi government] national Supreme Committee for Relief Aid Abduraqib Fatah in which he said the UN peace mediator Martin Griffith’s latest proposal, known as the Joint Declaration, “makes him far from his main mission.” Fatah had said that “by the Joint Declaration, Griffiths is trying to make the humanitarian situation in Yemen as the justification” for the terrible proposal, even though the “cause of the [wretched] humanitarian situation is that military coup against the elected president and rebellion against the national, Arab and international consensus ...”
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-43170
My comment: This obviously shows that the hadi government does not want peace (peace always is a compromise between the different parties) but claims sole rule.
(* B H P)
UN staff's aid corruption in Yemen 'cannot go unpunished'
UN official Ursula Mueller says agencies’ activity is ‘disastrous’
Investigations into the corrupt use of international aid money in Yemen by UN staff and ethics breaches by managers at the world body’s agency for Palestinian refugees must identify the perpetrators, a top humanitarian official said.
Speaking on Monday, Ursula Mueller, assistant secretary general for humanitarian affairs, described the alleged misbehaviour as “disastrous”.
“It cannot go unpunished,” Ms Mueller said in New York.
“We really need to look at the people that are committing these very devastating activities. These people need to face consequences. It cannot be brushed aside.”
An internal report revealed earlier this month that more than a dozen WHO employees in Yemen diverted food, medicine, fuel and money away from those supposed to receive help.
WHO auditors established that between 2016 and 2018 unqualified people were in high-paying jobs, millions of dollars were deposited in personal bank accounts, contracts were approved without paperwork and tonnes of donated medicine and fuel disappeared.
A second investigation into misconduct in Yemen is focused on another UN agency, Unicef, and a report that one staffer allowed a Houthi rebel commander to travel in a UN vehicle.
It was also disclosed late in July that senior management at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, mired in funding problems, are under investigation for “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority”.
In the north, restrictions have been substantially more severe.
There has been important progress on some of the problems, including assessments and project approvals. And on Sunday, a long-planned pilot finally began in Sana’a to introduce biometric registration of emergency food aid recipients. David will talk to you more about this.
And these are important steps. But much more remains to be done.
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Yemen conflict: the detainee transfer that builds hope for the future
Over two days, the ICRC oversaw 11 flights between multiple cities in Yemen and Saudi Arabia. A total of 1,056 former detainees were provided with transportation back to their place of origin.
It is the largest operation of its kind undertaken during the Yemen conflict and the largest undertaken by the ICRC in wartime since May 1953, during the Korean War.
Many had war injuries, with several having to board the plane on stretchers.
At each airport, ICRC staff checked the identities of the ex-detainees. They were also provided with hygiene kits, masks, clothes, food and a small amount of money to help them get home upon arrival at their destination.
"They were happy to be going home. A lot of them said they wanted to get married. Others were looking forward to eating their mother's home-cooked food," said Ben Youssef.
"We may have been responsible for operating the flights, but this was more than a transport operation.
"From a humanitarian point of view, you have people who have been away from their families for years. For some families, they didn't know if their loved ones were dead or alive. So this operation reunited families and will enable those with injuries to get the medical care they need."
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/yemen-conflict-detainee-transfer-builds-hope-future
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Das Stockholm-Abkommen und der Krieg im Jemen
Ein Schritt für den Frieden im Jemen
Bislang hat sich der 2018 in Stockholm ausgehandelte Friedensplan für den Jemen als brüchig erwiesen. Ein Gefangenenaustausch macht nun Hoffnung, dass Frieden im Land doch möglich sein könnte.
Doch wie realistisch sind solche Erwartungen?
Klar ist: Nach dem Scheitern früherer Verhandlungen in Kuwait und Genf galt der Vertrag von Stockholm lange Zeit als potenzieller Durchbruch. Dabei dauerte es nicht lang, bis die ersten Komplikationen deutlich machten, das der Weg zu Deeskalation und Frieden weit sein würde.
Die britische Jemen-Expertin Helen Lackner jedenfalls ist skeptisch: »Das einzige Element des Vertrags, das ansatzweise implementiert wurde, ist die Einigung zu Hodeida. Doch seither ist sehr wenig passiert«, bilanziert die Forscherin von der SOAS University of London. »Es wurden zwar ein paar Leben im Gebiet der Hafenstadt gerettet, doch auf lange Sicht gesehen wurde nichts erreicht – das Abkommen ist quasi nutzlos.«
Im ersten Jahr nach Unterzeichnung des Abkommens meldeten die Streitkräfte der Hadi-Regierung über 13.000 Verstöße seitens der Huthi-Milizen gegen die in Stockholm vereinbarten Bedingungen, darunter mehrere hundert kriegerische Handlungen. Dennoch galt der Waffenstillstand zunächst als Erfolg, denn zum Zeitpunkt der Unterzeichnung wendete er eine potenziell katastrophale Angriffswelle ab und trug so zum Schutz der Zivilbevölkerung bei. Laut UN-Angaben konnten 150.000 Binnenflüchtlinge dank des Waffenstillstands nach Hodeida zurückkehren, humanitäre Hilfeleistungen erreichten wieder vermehrt Bedürftige.
Doch die größte Baustelle des Stockholm-Abkommens bleibt Taiz, nach dem Gefangenenaustausch und der Entmilitarisierung von Hodeida die dritte wichtige Komponente des Stockholm-Vertrags. Vorgesehen war die Gründung eines Komitees, das über die Zukunft von Taiz beraten soll – das gibt es mittlerweile zwar, doch getroffen haben sich seine Mitglieder noch nie.
Die gemeinsame Kommission mit Vertretern der Konfliktparteien, der Vereinten Nationen und der Zivilgesellschaft sollte auf die Deeskalation des Distrikts Taiz hinarbeiten und regelmäßig über Fortschritte berichten. Doch seit der Unterzeichnung des Stockholm-Vertrags wurde weder über Erfolge bezüglich der Kommissionsarbeit berichtet, noch verbesserte sich die Konfliktsituation in der Region.
Bevor es Frieden geben kann, muss Vertrauen aufgebaut werden
Ist der Jemen also genauso weit von Frieden entfernt wie noch vor der Unterzeichnung des Stockholm-Abkommens?
Dass es heute kaum vorangeht, daran ist laut der Jemen-Expertin Lackner auch die Tatsache schuld, dass die Huthis weiterhin vom Krieg profitieren, während die gegnerischen Fraktionen zu zersplittert sind, um sich gemeinsam gegen die Rebellengruppe zu stellen. »Solange es keine annähernd zusammenhängende Allianz gegen die Huthis gibt, können die Verhandlungen keine Fortschritte erzielen.«
Trotz offensichtlicher Umsetzungsschwierigkeiten sehen andere Experten den Vertrag von Stockholm weiterhin als wichtigen Teil des Friedensprozesses. »Der Vertrag hat sicherlich seine Schwächen, aber es geht um Konfliktmanagement«, erklärt Raiman Al-Hamdani. »Im Jemen herrscht jene Art von Konflikt, in dem beide Seiten noch nicht bereit sind, sich zu einigen«, sagt der Experte für Sicherheit und Friedensförderung am Thinktank Yemen Policy Center.
Bevor eine dauerhafte Friedensregelung erreicht werden kann, muss also Vertrauen aufgebaut werden. Das Stockholm-Abkommen ist laut Hamdani nur eine von vielen noch nötigen Maßnahmen, um die Konfliktparteien langsam zu mehr Kompromissbereitschaft zu bringen – von Lila Tyszkiewicz
https://magazin.zenith.me/de/politik/das-stockholm-abkommen-und-der-krieg-im-jemen
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp8 – cp19
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-693b-yemen-war-mosaic-693b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-692-yemen-war-mosaic-692
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-692 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-692:
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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