... Selbstgespräch über Sokotra und seine Souveränität – Der Waffenstillstand hält weitgehend, beide Seiten werfen sich Verstöße vor – und mehr
May 25, 2022: What Awaits the Presidential Council in Aden – The Road to Taiz – Toward Open Roads to Taiz – Conversations with Yemeni Families: How They Cope with Crisis and War – Children in Yemen are Losing Their Passion to Learn – The Socotri Sovereignty Soliloquy – The truce mostly holds, both sides blame each other for violations – and more
Schwerpunkte / Key aspects
Kursiv: Siehe Teil 2 / In Italics: Look in part 2: https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-807b-yemen-war-mosaic-807b
Klassifizierung / Classification
Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
cp2 Allgemein / General
cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
cp6 Separatisten und Aden-Regierung im Südjemen / Separatists and Aden 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 Kulturerbe / Cultural heritage
cp13c 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
(* B K P)
Film: Jemen: Hoffnung auf Frieden im vergessenen Krieg
Seit 2014 tobt im Jemen ein Bürgerkrieg. Millionen Menschen hungern. Nach Jahren der Kämpfe gibt es nun erstmals Grund zur Hoffnung
https://www.derstandard.at/story/2000135960255/jemen-hoffnung-auf-frieden-im-vergessenen-krieg?ref=rss = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOPgLzolvJE = https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8b2smo
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Waffenruhe in Jemen: Zu den Huthi kann man jetzt auch fliegen
Seit knapp anderthalb Monat herrscht in Jemen eine Waffenruhe. In der von den Huthi kontrollierten Hauptstadt Sanaa landen jetzt sogar wieder Linienflugzeuge. Doch der Weg zu einem dauerhaften Frieden in dem zerstörten Land ist noch weit.
Abheben konnte der Flug dank dem Waffenstillstand, den die Uno Anfang April vermittelt hatte. Seither schwiegen in Jemen nach Jahren eines verheerenden Krieges zwischen der proiranischen Huthi-Miliz und der von Saudiarabien und den Emiraten unterstützen Regierung zum ersten Mal tatsächlich die Waffen.
Für die Bevölkerung des von einer Hunger- und Versorgungskrise heimgesuchten Landes ist das eine Erleichterung. Denn infolge der Waffenruhe wurden auch einige der Sanktionen gelockert, mit denen die Anti-Huthi-Koalition die Miliz in die Knie zwingen wollte.
Schon jetzt spüre man in den von den Huthi kontrollierten Gebieten im Norden des Landes deshalb eine gewisse Verbesserung der Lage, sagt die Jemen-Expertin Maysa al-Din von der Denkfabrik Sanaa Center.
Ob die Ruhe von Dauer sein oder gar in einen Friedensprozess münden wird, ist unklar. Nach wie vor sind sich die Kriegsparteien spinnefeind, und der Waffenstillstand kam nur deshalb zustande, weil beide Seiten nach jahrelangen, blutigen Kämpfen völlig erschöpft sind.
Vor allem die Saudi haben genug vom ewigen Krieg in ihrem Nachbarland und wollen raus aus dem jemenitischen Sumpf.
Trotzdem glaubt die Expertin al-Din, dass auch die Huthi ein Interesse an Verhandlungen hätten: «Die Miliz braucht unbedingt mehr Lebensmittel und Treibstoff, um ihre Bevölkerung zu versorgen», sagt sie. «Zudem ist ihre letzte grosse Offensive in der Erdölprovinz Marib gescheitert. Daher ist es denkbar, dass die Huthi Gesprächen in einem unbeteiligten Drittstaat zustimmen könnten.»
Die vom Westen geächteten Kämpfer wollen dabei unbedingt als legitime Herrscher über Teile Jemens anerkannt werden. Sie erweisen sich als harte Verhandlungspartner, deren Zusagen nicht immer als bare Münze genommen werden können.
«In Taiz zeigt sich, wie die Huthi vorgehen», sagt al-Din. «Sie stellen Maximalforderungen und halten sich an keine Absprachen.» Das mache die Bewegung zu keinem vertrauenswürdigen Gesprächspartner und trübe die Aussichten auf eine dauerhaften Frieden.
cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important
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What Awaits the Presidential Council in Aden
However, in this new political landscape, the PLC’s path to restoring peace and stability in Yemen is far from certain. In particular, the recent rise in suspected activity by Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) portends a looming battle against terror and radicalism in the interim capital Aden. Meeting this challenge will be one of the first major tests for the PLC.
A Message of Unity
In public appearances, members of the PLC have sought to reiterate two main points: the forces represented in the council are in agreement on working toward a unified political vision for the post-Hadi era, and that its top priority must be pursuing a resolution to the conflict with the armed Houthi movement, either through negotiation or force of arms. In a televised address to the nation on the occasion of Eid, PLC President Rashad al-Alimi pledged that he will lead from inside the country and put Aden on the path to stability, development and renewed investment. Tareq Saleh, commander of the National Resistance Forces and a member of the PLC, reiterated a similar message on May 8, noting that the executive body is working “in full harmony” to restore state institutions, including a plan to rebuild infrastructure in Aden, and that the interim capital will serve as a model for security and stability to government-held areas.
A Looming Threat in Aden
Even if the members of the PLC remain united and work in harmony, the recent uptick in suspected AQAP activity in Aden and southern Yemen represents a major threat to stability in the interim capital and the ability of the PLC to fulfill its early promises of security and development.
Attempts at Delegitimization
There are other attempts to undermine the new council as well. The PLC needs to monitor and react to baseless campaigns that accuse local and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of exploiting Yemeni women and girls. Such disinformation campaigns are a common tactic of insurgent groups, as they serve multiple purposes in undermining state authority.
Harsh Realities and Few Options
It is difficult to conceptualize what options the PLC has to deal with such a predicament. Instead of waiting for AQAP to undertake operations in Aden, it should show it has the power to stand firm against such threats. This is easier said than done. In Abyan, the deep divisions between the STC forces in Sheikh Salem and pro-Hadi presidential guards in Shoqra may undermine coordination against AQAP. It may not even be possible to incentivize the presidential guards to abide by the commands of the PLC or Ministry of Defense without Hadi’s support. Another option for the PLC would be relying on the Giants Brigades, which successfully pushed Houthi forces out of Shabwa in early January. However, deploying them on multiple fronts risks exhausting these forces and exposing them to heavy losses. It may be more prudent to save the Giants Brigades to defend against the Houthis as the current truce expires, should efforts to end the conflict through negotiation fail.
The pressing need to restructure and unite its various military and security forces puts PLC in a precarious position. PLC President Rashad al-Alimi has stated that the unification of these forces is the base that will enable the government to overcome current challenges and threats and restore the state and its institutions. To realize this, Al-Alimi will need the full backing of Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Otherwise, efforts at reorganization could devolve into recrimination and defection, as occurred after the signing of the Riyadh agreement in November 2019. If the PLC fails to sense the danger from an active AQAP and proactively counter the group, the consequences for the new leadership will be dire – by Fahd Omer
https://sanaacenter.org/publications/analysis/17804
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Die Straße nach Taiz
Eigentlich braucht der Krebspatient Mohammad Yahya nur 15 Minuten bis zum Arzt. Durch eine Straßensperre der Huthi-Rebellen sind es 8 Stunden.
Seit das Militär die Huthis aus Taiz vertrieb, wird die Stadt von den Rebellen belagert. Alle Straßen zwischen Taiz und den umliegenden Bezirken sind seither geschlossen, die geschätzt 370.000 Einwohner von der Außenwelt abgeschnitten.
Die Reisen nach Taiz kosten Yahya monatlich etwa 30.000 jemenitische Rial – umgerechnet etwa 42 Euro. Das ist die Hälfte eines durchschnittlichen Monatsgehalts in Jemen. Denn für den Weg aus Al-Hawban benötigt er ein Fahrzeug mit Allrad-Antrieb.
Immer wieder sterben Menschen auf dem Weg
Dass es überhaupt einen Weg nach Taiz gibt, liegt an der jemenitischen Zivilgesellschaft: Bürger haben eine alternative Straße geschaffen. Sie ist eng und holprig, steil und gefährlich, windet sich durch das Gebirge um die Stadt, immer wieder passieren schwere Unfälle.
Und immer wieder sterben Menschen auf dem Weg, weil sie es nicht rechtzeitig zu medizinischer Hilfe schaffen, berichtet Mukhtar Al-Mikhlafi, Generaldirektor der Cancer Control Foundation in Taiz: „Bei den meisten, die zur Behandlung nach Taiz müssen, verschlechtert sich der Gesundheitszustand, bis sie die Stadt erreichen. Durch die Belagerung und die schwierigen Reisebedingungen, aber auch weil sie die hohen Fahrtkosten nicht aufbringen können.“
Seit dem Beginn der Belagerung haben mehr als zwölf verschiedene soziale Initiativen versucht, Korridore für Patienten und humanitäre Fälle zu öffnen – oder diese ganz aufzuheben. Einige davon standen unter der Aufsicht und Betreuung der Vereinten Nationen – ihr Ziel erreicht haben sie letztlich nie.
Olfat Al-Dobai, Soziologieprofessor an der Universität von Taiz, glaubt, die Gründe für dieses Scheitern zu kennen: Die Huthis betrachteten die Belagerung nicht als humanitäre, sondern einfach als politische Angelegenheit. Und an ebendieser Sichtweise scheitere der Verhandlungs- und Friedensprozess immer wieder.
Gleichzeitig nutze die Regierung, und damit auch Saudi-Arabien, die Verschlechterung der humanitären Lage durch die Blockade aus, um die Menschenrechtsverletzungen der Huthis anzuprangern anstatt eine Lösung zu finden. Alle Parteien seien mitschuldig, sagt er.
Der Menschenrechtsaktivist Mohammed Al-Wattiri teilt diese Einschätzung: Die Öffnungsinitiativen seien zwar von allen Konfliktteilnehmern während verschiedener Verhandlungen begrüßt worden. Doch sobald es um die Umsetzung gegangen sei, habe jede einzelne sich aus der Verantwortung gestohlen. Keiner habe die aufrichtige Absicht, die Straßen zu öffnen und die Belagerung aufzuheben.
Jalal Saeed besitzt ein Transportunternehmen im Gouvernement Taiz. Durch die Blockade seien Transporte hier deutlich teurer als in anderen Gebieten, erklärt er. Die hohen Transportkosten wirkten sich auch auf die Warenpreise aus, die fast doppelt so hoch wie in anderen Bezirken des Landes sind.
„Wir sind mit vielen Schwierigkeiten konfrontiert, wenn wir Waren und Lebensmittel in die Stadt bringen wollen“, berichtet er. Seine Fahrer müssten Abgaben an die Militärposten der verschiedenen Konfliktparteien an den Straßen entrichten, Transportfahrzeuge würden unter dem Vorwand der Inspektion tagelang festgehalten. Hinzu komme die Abgeschiedenheit und die Unwegsamkeit der schmalen Alternativstraßen, auf denen immer wieder Lastwagen umkippen.
Der Mangel an Waren, die Einschränkung der medizinischen Versorgung – Völkerrechtsexperte Yasser Al-Muliky meint: „Die über Taiz verhängte Belagerung stellt nach dem Verständnis des humanitären Völkerrechts eine Kollektivstrafe für die Bevölkerung dar. – von Najm Aldain-Qasem
https://taz.de/Belagerung-im-Jemen-Krieg/!5855991/
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Toward Open Roads in Yemen’s Taiz
Taiz, a city in central Yemen, is besieged by Huthi rebels and practically cut off from the rest of the country. Restored road access would save lives and build trust that could help bring peace to Yemen, but time is short.
Thus far, the truce itself has held, if somewhat shakily. But the UN has been able to secure partial implementation of only two of the three confidence-building measures it attached to the deal that has halted the fighting: passage of fuel shipments into the Huthi-held Red Sea port of Hodeida and reopening of the Huthi-held Sanaa International Airport to commercial flights for the first time since 2016. There has been little if any progress on the third measure – reinvigoration of efforts to restore road access to Taiz, a city in central Yemen that the Huthis have besieged since 2016. UN officials are now in a race against time to ensure that the Sanaa airport remains open in the hope of prolonging the truce and starting political talks. Important as that task is, they must not forget Taiz. What happens there could either accelerate a shift away from violent confrontation to political negotiations, or become an impediment that derails UN-led efforts to finally end Yemen’s destructive war.
In order to capitalise on the opportunity for a truce extension, the parties need to make sustained progress on all three of the related confidence-building measures. The UN appears already to be pushing hard on fuel shipments and reopening Sanaa airport. The Taiz issue, however, requires closer attention.
For many in the anti-Huthi camp, Taiz has become a symbol of what they see as a lopsided international approach that gives short shrift to their grievances while seeking to appease the Huthis.
Taiz governorate has been isolated from the rest of Yemen since battles in 2015 left the Huthis holding its economically and strategically important northern regions and encircling Taiz city, whose centre remained under the control of government-aligned forces. Fighting has cut off all the main overland routes linking Taiz with Huthi- and government-controlled areas. No matter where they travel, Yemenis who live in the city are forced to navigate single-track mountain roads with perilous hairpin bends and checkpoints manned by armed groups.
The consequences have been debilitating for civic life and commerce. Travel time to and from Taiz has increased dramatically.
Higher transport costs and checkpoint fees, combined with other costs of operating in a war economy, have driven up food and fuel prices inside the city, making it one of the most expensive places to live in Yemen. It is not uncommon for sick Taizis to die on their way to Aden or Sanaa for urgent medical care. Thus far, the Huthis have had little incentive to improve road access to the city: they control the governorate’s economic heart and are keeping their main local rivals boxed in. Further complicating matters, parts of Taiz governorate not controlled by the Huthis are heavily contested by rival groups within the anti-Huthi bloc, sometimes violently.
A series of local and international initiatives has failed to improve access to Taiz city – a failure that many residents see as the product of a UN and international bias in favour of the Huthis.
The Taiz situation plays into tensions among the anti-Huthi bloc’s various components, which Riyadh has been trying to unify under a single umbrella. Many Taizis believe that the Saudi-led coalition – and especially the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has an expressly anti-Islamist domestic and regional agenda – wishes for Taiz to remain isolated in order to keep Islah, an Islamist group dominant in Taiz, weak.
Thus far, however, there has been very little progress of any kind. As part of the truce agreement, the Huthis and the government committed to form a joint negotiating committee to tackle the Taiz roads issue, as they did previously under the Stockholm Agreement. Yemeni government officials say they have named their candidates for the committee and provided proposals on reopening the Taiz-Hodeida, Taiz-Sanaa and Taiz-Aden roads. They claim that the Huthis have yet to nominate their own negotiators, casting the rebels as the main barrier to progress. In fact, the Huthis have laid out new demands to reopen roads in Taiz, the first of which are to halt fighting in the governorate and remove military equipment from its main arteries.
Whatever happens next, the Taiz road access issue is likely to become increasingly contentious, particularly as the UN ramps up efforts to sustain progress on the other two confidence-building measures in an effort to extend and expand the truce.
Resolving the Taiz roads question is thus closely linked to the fate of the truce overall, as well as of any future talks between the belligerents. Outside powers should employ a two-pronged approach to reaching a resolution. First, as part of a broader diplomatic push with the Huthis in Sanaa, they should focus the rebels on the need to make progress on Taiz, signalling that the issue is high on their agenda.
The parties should not miss this opportunity for progress. The partial reopening of Sanaa airport has rekindled hope among Yemenis that they will once again be able to travel outside the country. Likewise, the reopening of Taiz roads would bring great benefits for the city’s residents whose freedom of movement has been curtailed for too long. If there is no movement on Taiz, the chances of a truce extension beyond the two-month timeline, and peace in Yemen, will only grow slimmer. Despite widespread scepticism, the truce, the first countrywide halt in fighting since 2016, has held thus far. Yemenis should not be made to wait six more years for another opportunity for peace – by Peter Salisbury and Veena Ali-Khan
Here are some pictures that show how dangerous it is for travellers in & out of Taiz. Houthis must end the siege they enforce on the city.
https://twitter.com/Ndawsari/status/1527180777343045632
Film: Jemen, the deserted strets of Taiz seen from a drone
https://stream24.ilsole24ore.com/video/mondo/yemen-strade-deserte-taez-viste-alto/AEKIGZaB?refresh_ce=1 0 https://www.gazzettadiparma.it/italia-mondo/2022/05/22/video/yemen-le-strade-deserte-di-taez-viste-dall-alto-646427/
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ACAPS Thematic report - Yemen: Life goes on in Yemen: Conversations with Yemeni families as the war nears its eighth year, 22 May 2022
About this Report
Even after eight years of war, people in Yemen still socialise, celebrate important life-cycle events and religious festivals, and send their children to private schools. The circumstances have changed the ways and frequency they do so, but despite the importance of foodfocused analyses, life in Yemen comprises more than just a search for the next meal. A recent study highlighted the importance of social connections to coping strategies in Yemen (Kim,J., Elsamahi, M., Humphrey, A., Kadasi, A., & Maxwell, D. 2022). These findings concur with those drawn from conversations with households for this ACAPS study. Both studies point to the importance of the support obtained from connections and the social capital held within these connections. Based on the definition of ‘social capital’ as the “circumstances in which individuals can use membership in groups and networks to secure benefits”, connections between people are key to understanding how Yemenis continue to survive and live diverse, full lives in Yemen (Claridge 15/01/2020).
As in all societies and cultures, Yemenis have ways of coping with the lack of resources to deal with shocks or celebrate traditional social events (such as weddings). Years of conflict have stretched the usual coping strategies, but how they function has not been a subject of much investigation.
This research aims to provide humanitarians with a qualitative understanding of how ordinary Yemeni households cope with the challenges brought about and accentuated by war. The study is built on the assumption that people’s own stories about managing their lives and finances would enhance the understanding of coping strategies and how they have changed, as well as provide insights into adjusting humanitarian assistance to most usefully support survival strategies in Yemen. A form of assistance that recognises how people cope and avoids operational strategies that may weaken social connections will have a more positive impact and mitigate unrealistic expectations and programme failures.
Report in full: https://www.acaps.org/sites/acaps/files/products/files/20220522_acaps_yemen_analysis_hub_coping_strategies_0.pdf
(** B H)
Children in Yemen are Losing Their Passion to Learn
Education is no longer a priority for many people in Yemen. In the face of war-imposed hardships, the conflict has pushed families into survival. Going to school or attending college is no longer exciting –– or sometimes even possible –– anymore.
Education is no longer a priority for many in Yemen. This attitude is the devolution of a blood-thirsty and merciless seven-year war. The conflict has pushed families into survival mode as they face war-imposed hardships. Going to school or university is no longer exciting, or interesting, or even possible.
The strife has pushed millions of students out of schools and deprived millions of others from receiving any schooling at all. In conflict-stricken areas, thousands of families have been displaced, and schools have been decimated or turned into military outposts or havens for internally displaced persons.
In January, the US-based organization Education Cannot Wait (ECW) pointed out that the armed conflict has left nearly 8.1 million school-aged girls and boys in need of education and emergency support. Amongst these 8.1 million children, 1.5 million are displaced.
Indeed, the figures are shocking, and they speak volumes about the magnitude of the education crisis in Yemen.
Since the outbreak of war in 2014 and the intervention of the Saudi-Emirati led coalition in 2015 that targeted civilian infrastructure with air strikes, more than 2,500 schools have been destroyed, damaged, or utilized for non-educational purposes. It is not only students who have been forced to disregard education, but also teachers. Two-thirds of teachers in Yemen (nearly 170,000) have not received a regular paycheck since 2016.
The Yemen war has directly and indirectly compelled students to discontinue their education. When schools are bombed or used for non-educational purposes, children’s educations are directly impacted. The war also also cost countless families their livelihoods, which has made them unable to pay for education-related expenses.
While a small fraction of families may be able to spend lavishly to educate their children in this war-ravaged nation, they cannot guarantee that their sons or daughters will land their dream jobs if this war continues. Besides, the quality of education has seriously declined since the start of the conflict, which makes certificates of education less valuable and credible, particularly outside Yemen.
Education in schools or universities has been politicized, and the warring parties think of the educational edifices as hubs for mobilization.
Undisputedly, the war has robbed families in Yemen of not only of peace and stability, but also of any passion for education. Should the warring sides remain at odds, choosing weapons over knowledge, Yemen must find new creative ways to address the country’s education-related needs. Schools and universities should be distanced from the partisan, political, and sectarian agendas. The teaching staff must be paid their wages regularly, and children should not be deprived of education. There is an urgent need to revive the importance of education among the people in Yemen. Otherwise, illiteracy and ignorance may continue to feed the flames of conflict.
https://insidearabia.com/children-in-yemen-are-losing-their-passion-to-learn/
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THE SOCOTRI SOVEREIGNTY SOLILOQUY
Breaking down the borders between state, society, and sovereignty on the island where trees bleed.
For the uninitiated, Socotra is Africa’s second-largest island. It is also of the Arabian Peninsula, though firmly adjacent — Socotri is among the few remaining South Semitic languages not subsumed into the belly of Arabic. Today there are some fifty to sixty thousand native Socotris. It has often been compared to a land-before-time, a veritable Eden, and has been labeled among the last places on earth to be truly fully explored.
To describe Socotra as a tropical paradise would be to underwhelm future visitors. It is to Gran Canaria what Gran Canaria is to Canary Wharf. Within 24 hours, one friend asked if we agreed it was the most amazing place we had ever been — no one demurred. A day later the idea that it could be anything but was preposterous.
Resplendent with natural springs and waterfalls, home to 400-meter high sand dunes and adjoining coral reefs caked in tropical fish on whom spinner dolphins feast, dotted with “bottle trees” that prove nature’s imagination more expansive than Dr. Seuss, and inhabited by a proud and protective people, I would already have arranged to move to Socotra if only my beloved dog was allowed to join me. No non-native flora or fauna, save foodstuffs, can be brought onto the island. Locals were also strict that seeds could not be exported — they raised eyebrows when I mentioned that I had read a Dragon’s Blood Tree was growing in Honolulu’s Koko Crater Botanical Garden. It was explained to me the tree takes well over 100 years to grow, but upon my explanatory guess that it was a scientific endeavor, they welcomed the news.
Socotris are not only far more knowledgeable about the outside world than any outsider could ever hope to be about theirs, they recognize that Socotra has value in remaining a world apart. Or, at least, in the rest of us seeing it as such.
THE DISPUTES AND NON-DISPUTES OVER SOCOTRI SOVEREIGNTY
The Yemeni State is absent in Socotra. Not in the same sense as on the mainland, however. Socotra has been almost entirely free of the violence that has engulfed the mainland and hardened its political and sectarian divides. No other state claims sovereignty over Socotra, and while Somalia once submitted claims to its waters in a 2014 declaration to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, no serious contestation is envisaged — Somalia ranks second, just behind Yemen, in the Fragile States Index. There is no Socotri independence movement. The Socotris I was able to question about their views on identity all said they were, of course, Socotri but also Yemeni. To outsiders, however, its sovereignty appears increasingly contested.
All but one of the Yemeni flags I saw on the island were actually the flags of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), one of the main militias in the mainland’s civil war. Seen as close to the United Arab Emirates and occasionally accused of being a proxy for its influence, the STC is a secessionist movement that seeks to re-establish South Yemen.
Reports emerged in the international media in May 2018 that the UAE was planning to occupy Socotra. Emirati Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash dismissed them in a tweet, citing these historical ties as the UAE’s reason for offering support to Socotra. A member of the local special forces echoed these claims as he prepared to fly out of Socotra to the UAE for training with us, arguing that the UAE was helping to prevent the Muslim Brotherhood and Houthis from infiltrating the island.
Nevertheless, speculation about the UAE’s intentions persists.
The UAE would face risks in pursuing any formal annexation, least of all from Yemen’s alternative governments that would surely oppose the move. Though, that breach would likely not stir much in the way of protest, if one only looks to the non-impact of a 2016 ruling by a United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) arbitration panel on China’s claims in the South China Sea for evidence.
There are potential strategic benefits to the UAE from such an annexation.
While Socotra’s future sovereignty is in the air, the UAE already provides the link to and from the outside world, something Socotris require, and for which they genuinely appear grateful. (with photos9
https://inkstickmedia.com/the-socotri-sovereignty-soliloquy/
cp1a Am wichtigsten: Coronavirus und Seuchen / Most important: Coronavirus and epidemics
(A H P)
1.49 mln doses of measles, rubella vaccines arrive in Aden
1.49 million of measles and rubella vaccine doses arrived at Aden International Airport on Thursday, UNICEF said in a statement.
Those vaccines will be used to vaccinate 1.3m children during the upcoming measles campaign at the end of this month, the statement added.
http://en.adenpress.news/news/35078
cp2 Allgemein / General
(* A K P)
Interactive Map of Yemen War
(B K P)
Audio: Jemen hofft auf Verlängerung der Waffenruhe
Jemen steht seit mehr als sieben Jahre im Bürgerkrieg. Seit Anfang April gilt im Süden der Arabischen Halbinsel nun jedoch eine zweimonatige Waffenruhe. Eine Woche vor Ablauf besteht sogar die Hoffnung, dass die Waffenruhe verlängert werden könnte.
https://www.srf.ch/audio/echo-der-zeit/jemen-hofft-auf-verlaengerung-der-waffenruhe?partId=12197156
(* B H K P)
Film: Sustaining Yemen: Ensuring Humanitarian Aid Amid Shifting Conflict Dynamics
After more than seven years of war, Yemen remains mired in a humanitarian crisis with more than 24 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. While a two-month ceasefire recently brokered by the United Nations may present an opportunity to deliver life-saving aid, recent humanitarian funding constraints could impede the extent of relief efforts. Furthermore, evolving warring tactics and political interests of parties to the conflict challenge humanitarian aid agencies ability to provide critical services and resources. With limited international attention to support further reconciliation among the parties, the fighting is likely to see a resurgence at, or before, the end of the implemented ceasefire agreement with significant humanitarian consequences.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYFFnKJ5xNE
(* A P)
Egypt Approves Flights From Rebel-held Yemen Capital: Government
Egypt has approved direct flights between Yemen's rebel-controlled capital and Cairo, the Yemeni government said Tuesday, in the latest sign of progress in the war-torn country.
The green light comes after the first commercial flight in six years flew from Sanaa to Amman in Jordan last week, as part of a UN-brokered truce between Yemen's internationally recognised government and the Huthi rebels.
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/news/egypt-approves-flights-rebel-held-yemen-capital-government = https://www.barrons.com/news/egypt-approves-flights-from-rebel-held-yemen-capital-government-01653409207?tesla=y
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‘IRGC has covert presence in Red Sea,’ says top defense researcher
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, tells JNS about Iranian intelligence-gathering and attack vessels active in the region.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps’ (IRGC) Navy maintains a covert presence in the Red Sea through an array of ships, including some that gather intelligence and act as forward bases, a top defense researcher has said.
Lt. Col. (ret.) Michael Segall, a senior analyst at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, told JNS that after an alleged Israeli attack on the Saviz ship – described by international media as an IRGC ship acting as a forward and expeditionary base ship – the Iranians replaced it with a new ship, the Shahid Roudaki– a conversion of merchant ship into military floating base-, which is also operated by the IRGC, and is located off the Eritrean coastline.
“The Shahid Roudaki and other forward base ship are usually equipped with fast boats that can be lowered to the sea with cranes,” said Segall. “Usually, the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN) is active in missions/deployment outside of the Persian Gulf, while the IRGC-N is responsible for the Persian Gulf and Iran’s littoral shores. But they also cooperate, such as when IRGC forward naval bases may cooperate with Iran Navy ships in international waters.”
While the IRGC usually deploys forward base ships to act as intelligence-gatherers and enable rapid attack capabilities, the Iranian Navy, which is less well funded than its IRGC equivalent, unveiled last year its own forward base, in the form of a large ship called the IRIS Markan, a converted tanker, able to act as a mothership for naval operations, such as escorting Iranian tankers.
“The Markan is a huge ship that accompanies smaller vessels,” said Segall.
https://www.jns.org/irgc-has-covert-presence-in-red-sea-says-top-defense-researcher/
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Yemenis dream of peace and open roads as truce continues to hold
In Taiz, local workers tell MEE they think the current ceasefire may result in the return of vital services
By 2015, the main road out of the city was closed and the drive now took five hours through dangerous mountain passes.
“I can see my house from Taiz city but I can’t reach it because the road is blocked and if I want to visit my family I travel for five hours through mountains,” Ahmed, who preferred not to provide his full name, told Middle East Eye.
Ahmed lives in al-Hawban, which is part of the Taiz governorate. But he works at a restaurant in Taiz city.
Unable to afford to rent a room in the city following the closure of the main road, Ahmed sleeps in the restaurant with his fellow workers. Every two weeks he takes the mountain roads back from the city to see his family.
“Moreover, the soldiers at the checkpoints stop us every time to investigate our destination and what we are working on,” Ahmed said of his fortnightly trips along the dangerous mountain roads.
Hope for Ahmed and many others across Yemen came on 2 April, when the country’s warring parties signed a two-month ceasefire led by the United Nations.
'Peace is the demand'
Like Ahmed, Mu'ath Jaber, a resident of Sanaa, is focused on peace.
“Peace is the demand of all Yemenis, no one wants war. If peace is there, other things can come after,” he told MEE. “We really feel the great impact of this truce, since the first day of the truce we have heard no warplanes hovering over us and that means the beginning of the peace.”
Jaber confirmed that the end of the fuel crisis played a major role in reducing the cost of transportation, electricity and many other basic commodities.
“Before this truce, the fuel crisis was about to kill us, as everything was expensive, but now we enjoy peace and better life.”
Problems remain, Jaber acknowledged. Public employees are still not being paid. Some basic services are not being provided. But he described the situation now as better than it was in the months leading up to the truce.
The reopening of Sanaa airport is a potent symbol of that.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-taiz-open-roads-truce-hold-deam-peace
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Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council resists Houthi supremacy
The formation of the new Presidential Leadership Council is a remarkable revival of Yemen's General People's Congress (GPC) and a prologue to ending fighting in Yemen's south. This could throw the Houthis into confusion in the months to come.
However, the ongoing presence of the GPC-headed council on the ground in Yemen could impose a new political and military scenario.
Adel Dashela, a Yemeni researcher and political commentator, told Al-Monitor that there is an attempt to restore the leading figures affiliated with the regime of late then-President Ali Abdulla Saleh, who headed and founded the GPC and was killed by Houthis in 2017. Dashela indicated that the political and military scene has changed, and the armed militias across the country have multiplied. "It is hard to bring back the regime of Saleh as it was. However, the GPC can be a partner in any deal. This is possible and important."
Over the last seven years of war, the Islah Party was viewed as the one that influenced former President Hadi's decisions. Consequently, the Saudi-led coalition did not provide adequate political support to the president.
The former vice president, Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar, an influential military general, belongs to the Islah Party.
Though the coalition had militarily supported the Yemeni government forces over the last seven years, such support did not intend to restore the former president or vice president to power. With the formation of the new leadership council, the backing approach by the coalition has changed. It has facilitated the return of Yemeni officials to Aden, and it pledged $3 billion to boost Yemen's economy. The alteration of the coalition's support strategy is likely to bring a different outcome.
A military researcher requesting anonymity in Houthi-controlled Sanaa told Al-Monitor that the most challenging phase for the Houthi group has just begun. "Over the last seven years, Yemen's political parties have turned enemies against each other, which was a great service for the Houthi expansion. Now the parties and armed groups have come together under the umbrella of the leadership council. Therefore, it is hard for the Houthis to fight all of them and gain victory."
According to the military expert, the unity of command of the anti-Houthi forces can guarantee a significant change in who controls what in Yemen. However, if the leadership council fails to unite its armed groups, the Houthi military supremacy will persist, he added.
Basheer Mohammed, a Houthi supporter and fighter from Sanaa, told Al-Monitor it would be massive pressure on the Houthi movement if the fighting simultaneously erupted on multiple frontlines in Yemen.
While the formation of the leadership council has been a source of hope for Yemenis opposing the Houthis, the days to come will uncover if it can bring good to the country. Ahmed Nasser, a GPC supporter in Sanaa, told Al-Monitor that the leadership council can succeed in making a difference in Yemen.
Nasser added, "A GPC figure leads this new presidential council. The GPC has wide popularity across the country. In addition, it has good ties to various countries. This party is not founded on any religious idealogy, and this feature makes it acceptable inside and outside Yemen. With the local and international support, the presidential council can defeat the Houthis militarily or drive them to engage in serious peace talks."
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Film: Panel discussion "New Truce and Presidential Council in #Yemen: Impact on State, Domestic Politics, and Peace Process." Featuring: Amb. Patrick Theros (@PNT_Gulf), Dr. @khoury_nabeel, Sama'a Al-Hamdani (@Yemeniaty) & Dr. @a_carboni.
https://twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1rmxPgQkvbqJN = https://twitter.com/GulfIntlForum/status/1527318226820300800
(A P)
ICYMI: @abducteesmother - which advocates on behalf of loved ones detained in #Yemen - released their 6th annual report to "contribute in preserving the rights of the victims," "call for accountability," and "convey a message to the int'l community to act seriously."
https://twitter.com/K_Beckerle/status/1527147295271227394
My remark: Site seems to be offline.
(A P)
Today, Mwatana’s Executive Director @ralfaqih and lawyers from human rights NGOs had an important and fruitful meeting with the team of OTP of @IntlCrimCourt @KarimKhanQC
https://twitter.com/MwatanaEn/status/1527694244869283840
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On the evening of March 26th 2015, vital Yemeni infrastructure was levelled to the ground by a Saudi aerial operation known as “Operation Decisive Storm”. A storm it was, but it remains indecisive in nature. The bombing campaign was followed by a massive ground invasion by Saudi forces & allied mercenary formations from the north, with tanks rolling into Saadah Governorate in particular, the historical birthplace of the “Houthi movement”.
Was Saudi Arabia sanctioned for its illegal and arbitrary war of aggression? Was Saudi Arabia ever excluded from the international banking mechanism SWIFT? Did the Saudi Riyal crash? Did small businesses in the west put out sympathetic statements with Yemen, saying they would no longer serve people of Saudi nationality? No, no, no and no. A thousand noes. A billion noes. Western governments largely ignored it, and big multi-billion dollar companies remained indifferent. Remains indifferent, as the war is ongoing.
In fact, the response to the war on Yemen is diametrically different from the response to the war on Ukraine. One could argue that the scenarios are similar: A big country making up an excuse to invade a smaller neighbour, whether it be of “security concerns” or otherwise.
But unlike Ukraine, the people of Yemen are not white in skin tone and most Yemenis wear “flimsy clothes” as opposed to the “well-dressed” Ukrainian. The Yemeni people are fighting a US ally, the Ukrainians are fighting a US enemy. Whether these are the only reasons for the neglect of the suffering Yemeni people, I don’t know. But the indifference is staggering.
Yemen is left alone to fight for itself, as the US government pumps billions into the genocidal Saudi war machine year after year after year. Western media refuses to cover the war because “they oppose us”, they tell us.
https://yemensolidarity.org/thoughts-on-ukraine/
(A P)
Coalition forces abduct Yemeni fishermen in Red Sea
Saudi-led coalition forces have abducted a group of Yemeni fishermen off Hanish and Zugar Islands, in the Red Sea, Al-Masirah Network reported, citing well-informed sources.
“We have obtained the names of eight kidnapped fishermen off the islands of Zugar and Hanish and we continue to gather more information about others,” the sources told Al-Masirah.
https://en.ypagency.net/261340/
and also https://twitter.com/GhalebM0nz1i7/status/1527779831089442816
and
(A P)
Hodeida local authority condemns kidnapping of 18 fishermen off Honaish, Zaqr islands
The local authority in Hodeidah province has condemned the kidnapping of 18 fishermen off the islands of Honaish al-Kobra and Zaqr in the Red Sea by the Saudi-UAE Aggression navy, the confiscation of their boats and fishing equipment and means.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187827.htm
and https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187807.htm and https://en.ypagency.net/261480/
and
(B P)
Saudi-led coalition abducts 365 Yemeni fishermen
Saudi aggressor coalition abducted as many as 365 Yemeni fishermen in the past month, local Yemeni media have said.
https://en.mehrnews.com/news/187070/Saudi-led-coalition-abducts-365-Yemeni-fishermen
(A P)
[Sanaa gov.] Deputy Foreign Minister of Sana'a reveals an agreement between #Sanaa and #Aden. A leader in the Sana'a government revealed the first consensus on positions between Sanaa and Aden. The Deputy Foreign Minister in the Sanaa government, Hussein Al-Azi, said in a post on Twitter: "The smiling #Aden exceeds the desire of the occupier and embraces the great #Sanaa (its liberation reference and its historical leadership) and shares its readiness to celebrate the eternal Yemeni Unity Day."
https://twitter.com/GhalebM0nz1i7/status/1527776936113721344
(A P)
Ansarullah Leader Says US Setting Up Military Bases in Eastern Provinces of Yemen
The leader of Yemen’s popular Ansarullah resistance movement said that the US is building several military bases in the country’s eastern provinces of Hadhramaut and al-Mahrah as well as on the Red Sea coast with the help of its allied Takfiri militant groups.
On Thursday evening, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi told a delegation of tribal leaders from the western Yemeni province of Ibb that Washington is establishing military bases in eastern Yemen and the country's southern coastal city of Aden.
He said the Yemeni people will not accept Washington's diktats, warning that the enemies are hell-bent on creating discord and division among the people by all means necessary.
“We must work for security and social stability in Ibb province through compromise and cooperation among local authorities,” the top Yemeni resistance leader told the delegation.
He said the enemies have begun to mobilize military reinforcements by taking advantage of the UN-brokered ceasefire, which clearly shows their orientation towards the next stage of the war, and bears testimony to their failure in the previous phase.
(B K P)
Film: Arabische Bodentruppen im Jemen?
Saudi-Arabien gerät unter Druck: Das Militär dementiert Berichte über einen Bodeneinsatz der Militärallianz im Jemen
https://de.euronews.com/embed/305293
Meine Bemerkung: Hat bei mir nicht funktioniert.
(* B P)
Saudi regime cannot annex Yemeni provinces under new plan: Expert
While ceasefire in Yemen was intended to end the eight-year-long blockade on the country and set a prelude for the end of the clashes, the Saudis see to have to different dream.
Over the past few days, some Yemeni media reported Saudi plans to annex the Yemeni provinces of Hadhrahmaut, Shabwa, Al Mahrah, and Abyan to its territories, a plan that not only does not help de-escalation but also would reignite the conflict in the future.
Alwaght News arranged an interview with Sayed Hadi Afqahi, an Iranian expert of West Asia affairs, asking him for elaboration.
Q: Saudi Arabia, which has so far failed to meet its goals, announced that it intends to annex the southern Yemeni provinces. What are its objectives in the present conditions and can it make any success in this plan?
Afqahi: One of the reasons for this intention is rivalry against the UAE, a Saudi partner in the war against the Yemeni people. The UAE, with the help of the Israelis, has captured some important islands in the southern part of Yemen, including the city of Aden, which is the capital of the resigned Yemeni government, and also Socotra, where the Israelis have established bases on the island with the help of the UAE. For Saudi Arabia, an oil pipeline through Yemen is key to be able to transport its oil circumventing Strait of Hormuz. That is why the Saudis have their eyes on these four provinces, and they want to either occupy these areas by military force or rent them. Just as the three southern Saudi provinces of Asir, Jizan, and Najran which were officially annexed to Saudi Arabia under a 90-year agreement signed between King Abdul Aziz Al Saud and the contemporaneous ruler of Yemen. The situation in Hadramaut province is similar, and the annexation of this region to Saudi Arabia is both because of the Saudi rivalry with the UAE and because they are looking to occupy or rent it.
But occupation of these regions would be difficult because the tribes of Hadhrahmaut and Al Mahrah are extremely sensitive to the Saudi agenda and oppose the Saudi presence in their areas. Several times, clashes broke between them. Earlier, the head of Al Mahrah made strong remarks on the Saudis, telling them that they came to save the people but themselves occupied their lands.
Another issue is the UN and other international organizations' position which recognize Saudi Arabia as an occupying force in Yemen and this makes it legally impossible for the Saudis to annex the Yemeni provinces to their territories. I think that Saudi Arabia would not manage to annex these four provinces to pass its oil pipeline through them as this is a big risk.
Q: Having in mind that the UAE is also seeking occupation of southern Yemen, what would be its stance on this new Saudi policy?
Afqahi: The UAE, like Saudi Arabia, is an occupying force and sponsors the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC), and there are occasional clashes between Emirati and Saudi forces in southern Yemen,
Q: Saudi Arabia reportedly announced it would not walk back from its annexation policy. What challenges does this policy bring to the region?
Afqahi: The situation is stagnant now in Yemen and the warring sides have spent all of their power. Now, neither the Ansarullah Movement can make a significant change in the balance of power to force Saudi Arabia out of Yemen, nor can the Saudi-Emirati forces defeat the resistant movement and end the war by seizing the capital Sana'a.
Q: Saudi Arabia has left implementation of its new plan to the inhabitants of these regions. What do you think is their stance?
Afqahi: The Saudis have their mercenaries in these provinces but people generally oppose the Saudi occupation, let alone annexation. Saudi Arabia practically occupies these provinces but this may be provisional and possibly the tribes there would be armed to counter the annexation agenda, or Ansarullah may deploy forces to these provinces and block the plan. Therefore, despite its provisional presence, Saudi Arabia is not sure it can succeed. Its ultimate goal is annexation in order to pass its oil from these provinces but it is not the time and currently field changes and global equations are influential.
(* B P)
Film: Corruption in Yemen
Corruption, or the abuse of power for private gain, has been deeply entrenched in the Yemeni political economy for decades. Over the course of the ongoing conflict, however, state capture in Yemen has become far more complex, and new patronage networks have emerged with interests that have extended across national borders and crossed the frontlines of the war themselves, indicating collusion among supposed adversaries. As greater numbers and a wider variety of actors profit from illicit activity in the war economy, vested economic interests in continued conflict become more entrenched. Given the multifaceted pervasiveness of corruption in Yemen, any anti-corruption agenda must aim to understand the complex configuration of patronage networks in Yemen, to be introduced gradually, and to get the buy-in of as wide a group of Yemenis as possible.
This video is based on RYE Policy Brief 9 and RYE White Paper 4.
https://carpo-bonn.org/en/rye-video-corruption-in-yemen/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maXOI9rss6s
(A P)
Yemen [Aden gov.] asks for US pressure on Houthis to break Taiz siege
Yemen says it expects 'more pressure' from int'l community on Houthis as ongoing cease-fire set to end on June 2
Yemen's government asked the US on Wednesday to pressure the Houthi rebel group to break its seven-year siege on the southwestern Taiz province.
The request was conveyed during a meeting between Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington DC, according to a statement by the Yemeni Council of Ministers.
cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade
(A P)
Yemeni Oil Company in Sana'a announced, on Tuesday, that the Saudi-led coalition has released an oil derivatives ship, which is scheduled to arrive in the coming hours at the port of Hodeidah, western Yemen. The spokesman for the oil company, Issam Al-Mutawakel, said that the coalition released the gasoline ship “Caesar”, which carries a quantity of 29,889 tons. He added that two fuel vessels are still being held off the coast of Jizan, despite their obtaining entry permits from the United Nations.
https://twitter.com/GhalebM0nz1i7/status/1529163223613771777
(B H P)
Film: The child Muhammad died due to the unjust siege, as he needed to travel outside #Yemen for an open heart operation Between cries of pain and attempts to save him, the closure of Sanaa airport was an obstacle to his being rescued
https://twitter.com/GhalebM0nz1i7/status/1528445040875474944
(A P)
Aggression coalition detains new diesel vessel: YPC
The Yemeni Petroleum Company (YPC) confirmed on Friday that the US-led aggression detained a new fuel vessel loaded with diesel, despite it was cleared by the United Nations.
In a statement to SABA, YPC's official spokesman Essam al-Mutawakel stated that the aggression continued to detain fuel vessels.
The aggression today seized the diesel vessel "Berklees", which carried 30,597 tons, al-Mutawakel said, adding the number of the detained vessels increased to 3, all of which have been cleared by United Nations passes.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187582.htm
(A P)
US-Saudi Aggression Seizes Two Fuel Ships, Violating Truce
The Yemen Petroleum Company (YPC) announced that the US-Saudi aggression continues to detain two new fuel ships.
"The US-Saudi aggression released today the ship "Cornet", loaded with 20 thousand tons of gasoline and 9 thousand tons of diesel, in conjunction with its detention of two gasoline ships (Caesar and Sea Door) despite their inspection and obtaining entry permits from the UN," official spokesman for the company, Issam Al-Mutawakil, said.
It is noteworthy that the US-Saudi aggression seized the released ship "Cornet" on the twelfth of this month. The coalition of aggression continues its piracy, detaining fuel ships, and preventing them from entering the port of Hodeidah, despite obtaining permits from UN, which aggravates the humanitarian catastrophe due to the suspension of many vital service sectors, especially hospitals, electricity, water, cargo trucks, as well as waste trucks.
(A P)
2nd flight takes off from Sana'a airport
The second civil commercial flight took off on Wednesday from Sana'a International Airport, heading to Queen Alia Airport in the Jordanian capital, Amman, carrying 188 passengers, as part of the humanitarian truce.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187408.htm
(A P)
2nd civil commercial flight arrives at Sana'a Airport
The second civil commercial flight of Yemenia Airways coming from Jordan arrived on Wednesday afternoon at Sana'a International Airport with 60 passengers on board.
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187385.htm
and also https://hodhodyemennews.net/en_US/2022/05/18/second-commercial-flight-lands-in-sanaa/
Photos: https://twitter.com/Naseh_Shaker/status/1526907035425570816
cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation
Siehe / Look at cp1
(* B H)
Film: Als Chirurgin in Afghanistan und im Jemen | Live vor Ort | Ärzte ohne Grenzen
Die Chirurgin Eva Zettler berichtet live über ihre Einsätze in Afghanistan und im Jemen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8d61heE_bM
(* B H)
War pushes Yemen’s disabled population over the 4.8 million mark
A Handicap International official authored a report with the latest on the disabled’s fate in a country of 30 million. In 2014, before the Yemen conflict broke out, fewer than three million people lived with disabilities. Strikes, mines, and stray bullets are the main causes. The “collapse of the health system " and the loss of services have aggravated the crisis.
Advocacy groups are warning that the number of people with disabilities in Yemen has “skyrocketed” after seven years of civil war, a conflict that continues to produce victims, virtually forgotten by the international community
The latest warning comes from Yasmine Daelman, Advocacy and Humanitarian Policy Advisor for the Yemen Mission at Handicap International, who recently authored a report for the NGO.
In it she notes that mutilated and disabled people are always "the first to be forgotten," forced to survive in extreme conditions.
According to UN estimates, around 4.8 million people suffer from at least one disability in Yemen out of a population of 30 million, up from around three million before the war – though it is impossible to verify the number because of a lack of official data.
“The rate of disabilities has skyrocketed since the beginning of the conflict,” Daelman told AFP, in particular due to the extensive use of explosive weapons in strikes, mines and stray bullets in populated areas, leading to large numbers of amputations.
Psychological traumas and mental health problems have also greatly increased, the report notes. With the “complete collapse of the health system,” people with disabilities suffer the most since access to hospitals and health services is thus severely limited.
Sometimes the disabled have to travel up to three days, on dangerous roads, to obtain basic healthcare. “It is quite shocking to see how they face very different challenges,” Daelman explained, citing the example of deaf people who fear leaving their homes since they cannot hear attacks or explosions.
and
(* B H)
Yemen: “People with disabilities are afraid to go outside”
Life of people with disabilities in Yemen is desperate. Difficulties fleeing violence, accessing aid... Advocacy Advisor Yasmine Daelman explains the situation.
HI has published a brief study on the protection of people with disabilities in Yemen, drawing attention to the fact that the UN resolution on this issue adopted by the Security Council in 2019 remains largely unimplemented…
How are people with disabilities affected by living in a war zone like Yemen?
People with disabilities have told us that they are afraid to go outside. They live in constant fear of being injured, as they are unable to escape from explosions or armed clashes. Physical, sensory and intellectual limitations can all prevent a person with disabilities from escaping the violence. Many people with hearing disabilities, for example, have sustained conflict-related injuries because they couldn’t hear and understand what was happening. Not being able to perceive situations of violence causes significant and debilitating feelings of anxiety and psychological distress in these individuals.
The World Health Organization estimates that some 4.8 million people in Yemen have at least one disability, but there is no precise data on their number and situation. What is certain, however, is that this number has increased significantly since the beginning of the war due to conflict-related injuries caused by the widespread use of explosive weapons, but also to the indirect consequences of the conflict, such as diseases going untreated due to disrupted or inaccessible health services.
People with disabilities are the most marginalised in crisis-affected communities, including in Yemen. Their needs are largely unmet. They live unshielded and unseen, to quote the title of the report we produced in partnership with the Arab Human Rights Foundation, “Unshielded, Unseen”. This report discusses the implementation in Yemen of United Nations Security Council Resolution 2475 on the protection of people with disabilities in armed conflict.
Over 4 million people have been internally displaced by violence in Yemen. Amongst them are people with disabilities. How are they specifically affected by displacement?
Firstly, conflict and displacement increase the risk of people with disabilities being separated from their caregivers. Sometimes, they may even be abandoned: People with physical disabilities, for example, are often unable to flee and so when a family has to escape the violence, they are sometimes left behind.
Secondly, camps for internally displaced people in Yemen lack adequate basic services and accessible infrastructure for people with disabilities, such as toilets and other sanitation facilities, and food distribution points are also difficult to access. As a result, their most basic needs are often unmet. Communication materials and methods in a camp are also not adapted to the needs of people with visual or hearing disabilities who are therefore excluded from much of the support and assistance provided.
Access to aid and services in Yemen remains extremely restricted. What is the impact on people with disabilities?
Around 60% of people in Yemen live in rural areas , while the vast majority of services still functioning tend to be concentrated around urban centres. The availability of services has also decreased significantly since the war started. At least half of Yemen’s health facilities have been destroyed or become non-functional or damaged to an extent they can no longer operate. The use of explosive weapons in populated areas has destroyed much of the very infrastructure that people with disabilities so desperately need (health, education, etc.).
Furthermore, an estimated 10 million people across Yemen (around 50% of the population in need) are living in areas where access to services is limited. 81% of the people with disabilities we interviewed told us that they are unable to access humanitarian services : they are too far away; they cannot afford the transport; the roads are too dangerous because they are littered with landmines, and so on. The reasons are many. All of these factors combined make it extremely difficult for people with disabilities to access the services they need.
The challenges they face can also come from barriers such as negative attitudes, misconceptions, and stigma. Another issue is that people with disabilities are often not consulted on their actual needs or asked to share their experiences in coordination spaces and international forums where decisions affecting them are made.
What can be done to improve the situation of people with disabilities in war zones?
https://hi.org/en/news/-people-with-disabilities-are-afraid-to-go-outside
and, shorter report: https://www.hi-us.org/yemen_alarming_new_report_shows_dire_situation_for_persons_with_disabilities
Study in full: https://hi.org/sn_uploads/document/HI-Case-study-Resolution-2475-YEMEN-2022.pdf
(B H)
Life Skills training provides hope for vulnerable Youth in Yemen
With the generous support of the European Union, in 2022, UNICEF provided life-skills training for 1,348 young people to equip them to take on life’s challenges in seven governorates of Yemen
With the support of the European Union, in 2022 UNICEF is providing life skills training for 1,348 young people in Sana’a, Amanat al Asimah, Dhamar, Amran, Aden, Shabwah and Abyan governorates.
The life skills training is a preamble to vocational training, where the selected young people will learn skills relevant for employment. It will help them build the confidence and know-how required to start their own businesses, or negotiate a place in the workforce.
https://www.unicef.org/yemen/stories/life-skills-training-provides-hope-vulnerable-youth-yemen
(* B H)
Overcoming barriers in accessing healthcare in war-torn Yemen
In Hodeidah, Yemen, the war means people face huge barriers to accessing healthcare. Paediatrician Mónica Costeira tells the story of one family and the challenges they had to overcome…
The everyday war
Every week, we admit dozens of newborn babies to the mother and child hospital supported by MSF in Al-Qanawis. Fighting for their lives, these children are victims of what this war has done to their country.
The Hodeidah governorate has been one of the most active conflict zones in Yemen
As I speak to our patients, I come to understand that they lack access to healthcare, food, water, safe shelter and education. Many of them die due to diseases that are perfectly treatable and preventable if only they had access to a hospital with the necessary staff and medication. As a result, the most severely affected people are the most vulnerable; children, pregnant women, elderly people, and people with chronic diseases. The first thing that war does to a country is burdened its health system. A country like Yemen, with a health infrastructure that was already weak, has buckled under this extra weight.
People don’t give up
Wherever people live, they try to achieve the best life for their families. People don’t give up. In Yemen too, you find parents selling everything they have for a chance to send some of their children to another country in the hope that they will be able to lead a normal life, access healthcare, get an education and find a job.
“Fatima gathered the energy and resources to reach the nearest free health facility…” But in Yemen, something as simple as going to the hospital when you are sick can be an odyssey. I met so many parents who faced huge challenges just to bring their sick child to the hospital, like Latifa’s mother and father. Latifa had to be a fighter right from the first day of her life.
Lack of basic healthcare can be fatal
Complications owing to premature deliveries are the leading cause of death in newborns in this part of Yemen. There are multiple and various risk factors for low birth weight and preterm births; many of which are preventable or manageable with good antenatal care.
Risk factors include a maternal age of less than 17 or more than 35 years old, short intervals between pregnancies, maternal malnutrition, multiple pregnancies, abnormalities of the foetus and maternal health problems like malaria, pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, infections, among others. In Al-Qanawis, many mothers come to the hospital with these risk factors. However, ensuring basic neonatal care can significantly reduce mortality and improve outcomes.
(B H)
Film by Muslim Aid: Success Story| Sustainable WASH Solutions for Conflict Affected Communities in Yemen
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=deyfwoeRjSw
(* B H)
Der Jemen braucht neue Finanzmittel, um den Angebotsschock bei Weizen abzufedern
Der Jemen sucht nach neuen Weizenlieferanten, wird aber Hilfe benötigen, um die immer kostspieligeren Importe zu bezahlen, sagte ein Beamter und ein Hauptimporteur, als das Welternährungsprogramm vor Kürzungen der Nahrungsmittelhilfe für Millionen bereits lebender Menschen warnte am Rande einer Hungersnot.
Die Unterbrechung der weltweiten Weizenversorgung aufgrund des Ukrainekriegs und ein plötzliches Weizenexportverbot durch Indien könnten die Hungerkrise im Jemen verschärfen und die Lebensmittelpreisinflation in die Höhe treiben, die sich in einigen Teilen des Landes bereits in nur zwei Jahren verdoppelt hat.
Der Landesdirektor des WFP im Jemen, Richard Ragan, sagte gegenüber Reuters, dass die Zahl der Menschen auf der arabischen Halbinsel, die fast unter Hungerbedingungen leben, in der zweiten Hälfte des Jahres 2022 von derzeit rund fünf Millionen auf sieben Millionen steigen könnte.
Die UN-Organisation ernährt monatlich 13 Millionen Menschen im Jemen, wo die Wirtschaft durch jahrelangen Krieg zerstört wurde, aber seit Januar die Rationen für 8 Millionen von ihnen gekürzt hat. Möglicherweise muss sie bald weitere Kürzungen vornehmen, nachdem sie in diesem Jahr nur ein Viertel der 2 Milliarden Dollar, die sie für den Jemen benötigt, von internationalen Gebern aufgebracht hat.
„Wir nehmen Essen von den Armen und füttern die Hungrigen“, sagte Ragan. „Im Juni müssen wir einige schwierige Entscheidungen treffen, um möglicherweise sogar nur fünf Millionen zu ernähren, diejenigen, die wirklich am stärksten gefährdet sind.“
Der Getreidebedarf des Jemen beläuft sich auf etwa 4 Millionen Tonnen pro Jahr und „wir kommen auf etwa 25 Prozent davon“, sagte er und fügte hinzu, dass das WFP selbst einen Anstieg der Lebensmittel- und Treibstoffkosten um etwa 25 bis 30 Millionen US-Dollar pro Monat verzeichnet habe.
Der Jemen hat genug Weizen für drei Monate, sagte der Handelsminister in Aden letzte Woche gegenüber Reuters und fügte hinzu, dass das Ministerium auf eine saudische Hilfstranche in Höhe von 174 Millionen US-Dollar dränge, die zur Finanzierung wichtiger Importe, einschließlich Weizen, verwendet werden solle.
(* B H)
Yemen needs new financing to cushion wheat supply shock
Yemen is searching for new wheat suppliers but will need help to pay for increasingly costly imports, an official and a main importer said, as the World Food Programme warned of cuts to food aid for millions already living on the brink of famine.
Disruption to global wheat supplies due to the Ukraine war and a sudden wheat export ban by India risk deepening Yemen's hunger crisis and pushing up food price inflation that has already doubled in just two years in some parts of the country.
The WFP's country director in Yemen, Richard Ragan, told Reuters the number of people in the Arabian Peninsula country living in near-famine conditions could rise to seven million in the second half of 2022 from around five million now.
The U.N. body feeds 13 million people a month in Yemen, where the economy has been wrecked by years of war, but has since January reduced rations for 8 million of them. It may soon have to make further cuts, after raising only a quarter of the $2 billion it needs for Yemen this year from international donors.
"We're taking food from the poor and feeding the hungry," Ragan said. "In June we will have to make some tough decisions about possibly even going down to just feeding five million, those who are really most at risk."
Yemen's grain requirement is about 4 million tonnes a year and "we're coming in at around 25 percent of that", he said, adding that the WFP itself had seen food and fuel cost increases of about $25-$30 million per month.
Yemen has enough wheat to last three months, the trade minister in Aden told Reuters last week, adding that the ministry was pressing for a $174 million Saudi aid tranche to be used to finance essential imports including wheat.
(B H)
Early Postoperative Complications of Gastrointestinal Surgery and Its Associated Factors in Yemeni Patients Treated in a Teaching Hospital: A Retrospective Monocentric Study
Conclusion
There is a significant relationship between preoperative poor nutritional status, high ASA, need for blood transfusion, major abdominal surgeries, reoperation, small bowel resection, iatrogenic injury, previous laparotomy, and POCs across different gastrointestinal procedures. These factors should be assessed when auditing surgical outcomes.
(B H)
Child Protection AoR People Reached By Governorate as end of April 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/child-protection-aor-people-reached-governorate-end-april-2022
Child Protection AoR Partners Presence as end of April 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/child-protection-aor-partners-presence-end-april-2022
Child Protection AoR Sub - Actor and Services, as end of April 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/child-protection-aor-sub-actor-and-services-end-april-2022
(* B H)
Fighting a silent killer in a conflict zone
But barely six months ago, Amir was so tiny you could hold his hand with just one finger. So weak from vomiting and sick with diarrhoea, he was suffering severe acute malnutrition - just one of the many children in Yemen going hungry due to the ongoing conflict.
With the help of donors, Save the Children supported Amir to get the urgent medical treatment he so desperately needed. He was discharged after five days in the hospital, and a volunteer continued to visit him at home to take his measurements and provide him with nutritious food.
Fatima, his mum, expresses her relief, “My son’s situation is getting better than what it used to be. They provided him with medicine and nutritious food. There is a progress in his case.”
The silent killer in conflict - malnutrition
Amir’s experience with malnutrition was brought about by simply not having enough nutritious food.
A report by Save the Children estimates that over half a million young children have died in conflict zones recently. Many were not killed directly by the fighting, but from the knock-on effects of conflict, such as starvation and disease.**
But malnutrition is preventable and treatable.
Thanks to our donors’ generosity, the health facility supported by Save the Children where Amir was treated was able to provide medical consultations for over 3,500 children. They treated more than 300 children for malnutrition in Amir’s community alone.
Amir has now recovered, with therapeutic and nutritious food, medical check-ups and continuous monitoring by healthcare workers.
https://www.savethechildren.org.au/our-stories/fighting-a-silent-killer-in-a-conflict-zone
(A P)
Yemen Women Protection AoR Services, Apr 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-women-protection-aor-services-apr-2022
Yemen Women Protection AoR Services, Jan - Apr 2022
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-women-protection-aor-services-jan-apr-2022
(* B H)
Disabilities ‘skyrocketing’ in war-torn Yemen
The number of people with disabilities is soaring in Yemen after seven years of civil war, with amputations in particular rising from attacks on urban areas, the aid group Handicap International said on Friday.
"The rate of disabilities has skyrocketed since the beginning of the conflict," said Yasmine Daelman, the lead author of a the Handicap International report that was provided to AFP. Extensive use of explosive weapons in strikes, mines and stray bullets in populated areas have led to large numbers of amputations, according to the France-based group, and people with disabilities are always "the first to be forgotten", Daelman said.
Psychological traumas and mental health problems have also greatly increased as the war drags on, the report said. The United Nations estimates that around 4.8 million people suffer from at least one disability in Yemen out of a population of 30 million, up from around three million before the war -- though the numbers are impossible to verify due to a lack of official data.
A "complete collapse of the health system" means people with disabilities are not being protected as they should be, Daelman said, with access to hospitals and health services severely reduced.
The disabled sometimes have to travel for three days on dangerous roads for basic healthcare. "It is quite shocking to see how they face very different challenges," Daelman said
https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/959405-disabilities-skyrocketing-in-war-torn-yemen = https://english.ahram.org.eg/News/466560.aspx
(* A H P)
Yemen’s Food Basket Jumps by 85%, Govt Considers S. American Alternative
Yemen’s Ministry of Industry and Trade said it is looking for alternative markets to buy wheat from South America and Asia in order to cover the disruption to global wheat supplies generated by the fallout from the conflict in Ukraine.
A senior official in the Ministry said Yemen is considering Brazil and India.
He pointed out that many regional countries that have large stocks of wheat also offered to sell Yemen the quantity it needs.
The government pledged to work on providing credit lines for importers.
Yemen imports about 46% of wheat from Russia and Ukraine.
A food security analysis prepared by the Famine Early Warning Systems Network said Yemen is currently suffering a surge in food prices since it relies heavily on imports to meet its need.
According to the report, the cost of the most basic food basket has increased significantly by 12% since March, up 85% than a year before.
and
(A H P)
Yemen asks India for food aid in view of humanitarian crisis
Yemen requested food aid to India in the face of the humanitarian crisis the country is facing due to the war that began in 2014, the national press reported on Friday.
Yemeni Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed sent a letter to that effect to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, SABA news agency highlighted.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad Bin Mubarak delivered the letter to Indian Minister of State for Foreign Affairs V. Muraleedharan, during a meeting the two officials held in New York.
The text deals with the international food crisis and reflections on the situation in Yemen in the wake of the conflict initiated by the Houthi militia, the source stated.
Bin Mubarak urged the grain exporting countries, such as India, to work with Yemen to address the humanitarian situation.
and also https://debriefer.net/en/news-29640.html
(A H P)
Japan grants emergency food aid to Yemen
The Japanese government on May 10 extended an Emergency Grant Aid of $10 million, in response to the food crisis in Yemen, and said this assistance was expected to be delivered to approximately 2.5 million people. https://www.arabnews.com/node/2078781/world
(B H)
Film: Beekeeping in Yemen dates back to the 10th century, producing many varieties of delicious honey. But conflict in the country has affected beekeepers & beekeeping. Thanks to a @FAO-@WorldBank project, beekeepers like Salim are producing honey again.
https://twitter.com/FAO/status/1527579884968718337
(A H)
Around 2600 conflict affected and displaced families from Hays district of #Hodeida have received the first round of emergency cash assistance provided by the ICRC in cooperation with YRCS.
https://twitter.com/ICRC_ye/status/1527713263559004166
(B H)
Economist: Yemen likely to escape effects of global wheat crisis
Expert economist Rachid al-Haddad has said on Friday that “Yemen will not be among the countries most affected by the global wheat crisis.”
“Yemen has not yet entered the list of the largest wheat importers, as it is one of the least importing countries of wheat from the world market,” al-Haddad said in a Facebook post.
Al-Haddad said that Yemen imports only 3.2 million tons, compared to wheat-growing Egypt, which imports 12.1 million tons regardless just to cover its production gap.
He explained that India excluded Yemen from its recent decision to stop the export of wheat abroad, and is showing its readiness to supply the Yemeni domestic market with any quantities of wheat it needs.
https://en.ypagency.net/261309/ = https://hodhodyemennews.net/en_US/2022/05/20/yemen-likely-to-escape-effects-of-global-wheat-crisis/
(B H)
Film: Residents of Al-Hodeidah struggle to fetch water
Residents of several areas in Al-Hodeidah, western Yemen, travel long distances to fetch water, using a rope and bucket to draw water from the deep well. With the start of summer and rising temperatures, the need for water doubles, forcing people to go more than once to get enough water for their daily use.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDPYnlaVVhY
(B H)
Reconnecting young people with a brighter future amid conflict-ridden Yemen
With special funding from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank, the ETC has endowed the university’s library and medical faculty with laptops, monitors, printers, and internet access — some of the foundations for obtaining an education in the twenty-first century.
“We were having such difficulties with teaching since there was no internet and insufficient equipment in the lab. Education can be so much more effective with these technology tools set up in the university,” Says Fath Alwakhathi, an instructor.
The ETC’s connectivity project has now changed the lives of 3,500 students and teaching staff and reinforced a virtual bridge between Yemeni students and the global student body.
The upgrade of internet services to fibre optic technology was a milestone in the university’s move to online learning.
“For the first time in Yemen, and through cooperation between the University of Florence in Italy and the University of Aden’s Faculty of Medicine, a distance learning program has been launched, using the internet service, the renovated facilities and the video conference system provided by the ETC through funding from WHO,” says Dr. Said Sawsan, former Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Aden University.
https://www.etcluster.org/blog/reconnecting-young-people-brighter-future-amid-conflict-ridden-yemen
(* B H)
RH Annual Report 2021
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Yemen crisis remains one of the largest and most complex crises globally, and it is far from over. More than six years of instability, an economy on the verge of collapse, funding shortfalls, and the COVID-19 pandemic have converged to place lives at risk, with women and girls continuing to bear the brunt of these challenges. In addition, Yemen has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the Arab States region. UNFPA's response provides reproductive health services to thousands of women and girls in health facilities supported across Yemen to provide emergency obstetric care and essential reproductive health supplies. UNFPA is also the sole provider of lifesaving reproductive health medicines in Yemen. Reproductive Health (RH) project is one of the most important humanitarian response projects, which aimed to meet people’s needs, access to available maternal health and family planning services with a focus on underserved areas and humanitarian emergencies in targeted sites increased, ensure safe motherhood and avert morbidities, and maternal and newborn mortalities. In addition, the readiness of the health facilities is essential to provide all the basic and comprehensive functions to ensure emergency services in the targeted facilities. Deem funded by UNFPA has started implementing providing RH services for conflict-affected areas project since January 2019. In 2021, Deem for Development Organization implemented RH project within 14HFs (4 CEmONC and 10 BEmONC HFs) in Taiz governorate.
In 2021, the total number of BNFs who received reproductive health services in targeted HFs reached 327,715 (31,578 of them have received antenatal care (ANC), 10,239 received delivery services, including 8,023 received natal care for normal deliveries and 1,325 for cesarean section, 11,157 received postnatal care services (PNC), 27,749 family planning services (FP), and 246,992 received RH consultations).
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/rh-annual-report-2021
(* B H P)
"Stille Tragödie": Folgen des Ukraine-Kriegs bedrohen Millionen mangelernährter Kinder
Der Ukraine-Krieg verschärft nach Unicef-Angaben das Problem schwerer Mangelernährung bei Kindern in der ganzen Welt. Schon jetzt kämen dadurch jedes Jahr mehr als eine Million Kinder um, heißt es in dem am Dienstag veröffentlichten Unicef-Bericht "Schwere akute Mangelernährung: Eine tödliche Gefahr für Kinder". Doch jetzt könnten noch deutlich mehr Kinder sterben.
"Der Krieg in der Ukraine hat auch gravierende Folgen für Kinder, die weit weg vom Kriegsgebiet, zum Beispiel in Somalia oder Jemen oder Afghanistan, leben", sagte Rudi Tarneden, Sprecher von Unicef Deutschland, der Deutschen Presse-Agentur in Köln. "Ihre Familien können die steigenden Kosten für Nahrungsmittel nicht mehr aufbringen, die Kinder bekommen weniger und schlechtere Nahrung zu essen. Durch den Krieg ist die globale Versorgungskette teilweise unterbrochen, Hilfslieferungen kommen nicht nach."
(* B H P)
OPINION: Time is running out to avert yet further catastrophic famine in Yemen
Without substantive changes in approach, there is an immediate risk that wheat supplies into Yemen will not meet the minimum levels needed to prevent hundreds of thousands more people being pushed into famine.
Today, foreign ministers from across the world will come together at the United Nations in New York to seek urgent solutions to the global food security crisis.
Recent shocks to commodity markets, first generated by the conflict in Ukraine, have shaken the foundations of the world’s supply chains. Prices have increased dramatically and states have sought to shore up supplies to meet their own domestic needs, putting in place protectionist measures such as export bans.
These dynamics only serve to threaten vulnerable countries facing growing levels of food insecurity.
The effects of these shocks have been felt no more keenly than in Yemen – the world’s worst humanitarian crisis – where more than half the population were already suffering from food insecurity even before the price spikes generated by the conflict in Ukraine and India’s recent export ban on wheat.
The prices of wheat, edible oils, fuel and other commodities have sky-rocketed this year, hitting highs not seen since the global financial crisis in 2008. But while these challenges are affecting populations all over the world, the countries most in need will be the first on the breadline and the worst affected by far.
Even before the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine, food affordability (as measured by the average cost of a minimum food basket (MFB)) worsened significantly in Yemen over the course of 2021. Between January – December 2021, MFB costs increased by up to 119% in some areas of Yemen according to the World Food Programme.
Based on the current trajectory, that could pale in comparison to rises in 2022.
In Yemen, the population relies on the private sector for their food, 90% of which is imported. The latest developments unfolding are dismaying.
As global wheat prices spiral out of control due to shortages and export bans, the Yemeni Rial continues to depreciate, leaving the private sector at the centre of a perfect storm of shrinking purchasing power.
Without access to external financing or foreign exchange and faced with restrictive payment terms, Yemeni businesses cannot afford to place orders they need to keep bread on the tables of Yemeni communities.
This is in addition to the internal challenges that Yemeni businesses face – such as navigating damaged supply and distribution lines and a fragmented banking system.
These hurdles cannot be overcome solely through humanitarian relief. M
https://news.trust.org/item/20220518065348-7m4qw/
(B E H)
Film: Yemeni woman starts a start-up to overcome hardship of Taiz siege
The siege of Taiz and aftereffects of war in Yemen have led to deteriorating economic conditions and high unemployment rate, which exacerbated citizens’ suffering. In order to overcome these hardships, young woman Mervat Amin started her own start-up of extracting and mixing natural oils.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PfSxo2Mm-I
(B H P)
IRC Policy Briefing: Empfehlungen an G7 zur Bewältigung der weltweiten Hungerkrise
In Jemen sind über 19 Millionen Menschen auf Nahrungsmittelhilfe angewiesen. 46% der Weizenimporte bezieht das Land aus der Ukraine oder Russland.
Eine neue Analyse von International Rescue Committee (IRC) weist auf die Auswirkungen des Krieges und die Bedrohung der globalen Ernährungssicherheit in Krisengebieten hin.
Die G7-Außenminister*innen planen eine „Globale Allianz für Ernährungssicherheit”, die G7-Entwicklungsminister*innen tagen diese Woche dazu. Die verschiedenen Treffen der G7 und der Gipfel im Juni bieten die einzigartige Gelegenheit, entschieden gegen sich verschärfende Hungerkrisen weltweit vorzugehen.
cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees
(* A P)
UN aims to transfer 6,750 Ethiopians trapped in Yemen war
The U.N. migration agency said Tuesday it aims to help transfer at least 6,750 Ethiopian migrants from war-torn Yemen to their home country in the coming months. It appealed for $7.5 million to assist their return.
The International Organization for Migration said it has transferred more than 600 migrants, including 60 unaccompanied children, to Ethiopia on three flights so far this year. More flights were planned between Yemen’s southern port city of Aden and the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, it added.
“Migrants transiting through or stranded in Yemen are some of those most affected by the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the country,” said Christa Rottensteiner, IOM’s chief of mission in Yemen.
(B H)
IOM and EU Humanitarian Aid Expand Support to 325,000 Conflict-affected People in Yemen
The people of Yemen continue to suffer from a dire humanitarian crisis. Over the last seven years, the conflict has displaced over 4.3 million people, destroyed vital infrastructure and exacerbated the needs of migrants, displaced and host communities.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) and EU Humanitarian Aid (ECHO) are scaling up their efforts to respond to the needs of more than 325,000 people displaced by the conflict, migrants and the communities that host them with urgently needed shelter, health, cash, protection services and water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) support.
Contributions from the EU are allowing IOM to provide thousands of these migrants with health assistance, information on safe migration and individualized protection assistance.
For internally displaced persons, IOM is supporting site management and service coordination in 61 displacement sites. Cash assistance is being provided to those newly displaced by fighting and to families whose shelters require rehabilitation which prevents the risk of flooding and fire hazards.
The funding also enables distributing life-saving water to communities, provide hygiene kits, rehabilitate water and sanitation infrastructure and run hygiene promotion campaigns to reduce the risk of disease outbreaks.
and also https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/05/1118872
(* B H)
Displacement in Yemen: An Overview
Displacement in Numbers
The seven years of continuous conflict have taken a heavy toll on the population at various levels. About 23.4 million Yemenis (73% of the population) have become dependent on humanitarian aid. The military operations had caused the internal displacement of 4.3 million Yemenis by March 2022. About 40% of them are living in unofficial displacement camps and do not have adequate access to basic services. Yemen has seen the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. The conflict also had a devastating impact on the country’s economic situation, as it caused a comprehensive economic collapse that reduced the GDP per capita by about 50%. Two out of three Yemenis – 20 million men, women, and children – live in extreme poverty.
According to UNICEF, the humanitarian situation in Yemen is expected to worsen between June to December 2022. The number of people unable to meet their minimum food needs in Yemen may reach a record of 19 million people. It is also expected that an additional 1.6 million people in the country will fall into emergency levels of hunger, bringing the total to 7.3 million people by the end of 2022. It is also feared that the numbers will rise even higher due to the decline in international funding for humanitarian operations, as world leaders only committed USD 1.3 billion out of the USD 4.3 billion needed for the humanitarian response in Yemen in the pledging conference held on March 16, 2021.
Children are the most affected by the crisis.
Realities in Host Countries
Though Yemen’s conflict has predominantly resulted in mass internal displacement, the conflict has also caused large numbers of Yemenis to seek refuge outside the country. However, while thousands of Yemenis have sought refuge in neighboring countries and further, there remains very limited information or statistics on the number of Yemeni refugees or their distribution across host countries at the international level. As of 2020, a reported 3,576 people from Yemen fled and applied for asylum in other countries according to UNHCR data. This corresponds to approximately 0.012% of all residents. Destination countries include the United Kingdom, Germany and the Netherlands. The most successful applications have been to Canada and in Jordan. According to UNHCR, Jordan was hosting 13,727 Yemeni asylum-seekers as of March 2021. A total of 38 people successfully fled to the United States from Yemen. With 23 positive decisions.
For its part, Yemen serves as a host country as well.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/displacement-yemen-overview = https://euromedmonitor.org/en/article/5120
(B H P)
UN ignores IDPs figures in Yemen: [Aden] Gov't official
The UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) ignores accurate statistics on internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Marib, deputy governor of the Yemeni northeastern governorate said on Thursday.
At the beginning of this year, field surveys found that Marib hosts 3.12 million IDPs, Abd Rabbu Miftah added in remarks carried by the Riyadh-based Saba.
However, the "figures in OCHA-developed emergency response plan for IDPS are wrong, negatively affecting human work standards,"
https://debriefer.net/en/news-29641.html
(B H)
CCCM Cluster Yemen: IDP Hosting Sites in Yemen
A total of 531 IDP hosting sites out of 2,340 IDP hosting sites in Yemen were surveyed, with a total population of 567,011 individuals out 1,592,494 individuals. Data was collected between March 2021 - April 2022 through key informant interviews with community representatives in each site.
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/cccm-cluster-yemen-idp-hosting-sites-yemen-may-2022
and map: https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/cccm-cluster-yemen-idp-hosting-sites-overview-map-april-2022
and for provinces:
https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/cccm-cluster-yemen-ibb-hub-idp-hosting-sites-overview-april-2022
(A H)
Yemeni YouTuber dies while trying to cross into Poland
A Yemeni YouTuber died while trying to cross forests between Belarus and Poland on the way to Europe for humanitarian asylum there.
Human rights sources said that Yemeni YouTuber “Abdul Majid Khaled” died of starvation after being stranded, while trying to cross forests between Belarus and Poland on his way to Europe.
https://en.ypagency.net/261184/
and also https://twitter.com/AzalALSalafi/status/1526937754730381312
cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis
(A P)
Parliament condemns continued violations of UN-declared armistice by coalition
https://en.ypagency.net/261711/
(B P)
NGO: Houthis abducted over 400 civilians in Yemeni Taiz
Over 400 civilians have been abducted by the Houthi group in the Yemeni southwestern governorate of Taiz, Mothers of Abductees Association tweeted on Sunday.
In a statement, the NGO said it documented 417 abductions at Houthi checkpoints in Taiz city that has been besieged by the group since 2015.
https://debriefer.net/en/news-29675.html
(B P)
Film: Childhood is violated in Sana'a schools, and the recruitment of children is carried out under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. Brainwashing children and inciting hatred and extremism.
https://twitter.com/MayyunMedia/status/1528859549159116802
(A P)
The Houthi militia's self-styed governor for Taiz has amassed more than YR one billion in one year/Almeethaq News
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-56060
(A P)
Jemen: Kampf gegen saudischen Feind ist offensiv geworden
Der Verteidigungsminister der Nationalen Heilsregierung des Jemen würdigte alle Bemühungen der jemenitischen Streitkräfte im Kampf gegen die Aggressionen der saudischen Koalition und sagte: „Der Kampf hat sich von einem defensiven Zustand in einen offensiven gewandelt.“
(A P)
Defense Minister, Chief of Staff Threaten US-Saudi Aggression with Shameful Ending
Defense Minister Mohammed, Nasser Al-Atifi, and Chief of General Staff, Mohammed Al-Ghomari, threatened the US-Saudi aggression with a shameful and humiliating ending in the event of any military escalation.
(A P)
Confrontations emerge between Houthi gunmen and tribesmen in Alsalafiya district in the Houthi controlled province of Raymah after a Houthi militant killed a shopkeeper on Thursday/Bawabati
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-56040
(A P)
Amnesty International: Yemen: Huthi authorities must release four journalists sentenced to death
Yemen’s Huthi de facto authorities must quash the death sentences and order the immediate release of four Yemeni journalists who are facing execution following a grossly unfair trial, Amnesty International said today ahead of an appeal hearing on 22 May before the Specialized Criminal Appeals Division in Sana’a, Yemen.
Since 2015, the Huthi authorities have arbitrarily detained Akram Al-Walidi, Abdelkhaleq Amran, Hareth Hamid and Tawfiq Al-Mansouri without charge or trial for more than four years; subjecting them to a range of human rights abuses including forcible disappearance, intermittent incommunicado detention and solitary confinement, beatings and denial of access to medical care. The Specialized Criminal Court in Sana’a sentenced them to death in April 2020 after an unfair trial; a verdict that the defendants have since been appealing.
(A P)
Revolution Leader to Ibb delegation: We are interested in continuing our journey to achieve independence and freedom
The Leader of the Revolution expressed the hope that Ibb province would present a model of coexistence that bridges gaps and builds bridges, saying "The official and popular side in Ibb are concerned with continuing their honorable activity and carrying out their responsibilities."
Al-Houthi stressed that the awareness-raising activity immunizes the Yemeni people from trumpets and propaganda cells.
He said: "We must be keen on security and social stability in Ibb through reconciliation and cooperation between the authorities."
https://www.saba.ye/en/news3187504.htm
(* B P)
[Aden gov.] Yemen officials accuse Houthis of fabricating fuel crisis
By creating fake shortages, the Houthis are making huge profits -- some say up to $360 million since April -- selling oil derivatives on the black market.
Gas stations in Sanaa and other areas of Yemen controlled by the Iran-backed Houthis have abruptly halted sales of gasoline, cooking gas cylinders and other petroleum products, even as a ceasefire takes hold, residents said.
But despite the additional supply flowing in, gas stations and other businesses selling oil products abruptly shut down May 10, indicating that other factors are involved.
According to Sanaa-based private sector employee Ibrahim Zayed, the public panicked upon hearing the news of the most recent fuel crisis.
Some people rushed out in search of gasoline, he told Al-Mashareq.
Some drove to gas stations and joined long lines, while others attempted to buy gasoline on the black market, out of fear that prices would skyrocket, he said.
[Aden gov.] Yemeni Minister of Information Muammar al-Eryani accused the Houthis of creating a new oil crisis in Sanaa and other areas under their control by manipulating the price of oil derivatives.
https://almashareq.com/en_GB/articles/cnmi_am/features/2022/05/19/feature-02
(* B P)
Luke Symons reveals cruel Houthi trick to end bid for freedom
Former prisoner in Yemen tells 'The National' of beatings, fights and threats during grim five-year jail ordeal
An innocent British Muslim was tricked into returning to a Houthi-run jail in Yemen in the midst of a mass prisoner exchange after the sudden breakdown of talks over his release.
Luke Symons, 30, who was detained on spurious spying charges, spent another 18 months within Yemen's brutal prison regime after being separated from a bus-load of former inmates on their way to Sanaa’s airport and a flight to freedom in October 2020.
A senior Houthi official collected the married father from a holding centre within hours of the group leaving prison and told him he would be taken to his family in Yemen – but he was instead dumped back at the prison where he was held without charge or trial.
Mr Symons was eventually released after a secret deal involving 11 other foreigners, brokered by Oman and Saudi Arabia, after five years behind bars. He flew back to the UK last month with his Yemeni wife and young son who was only three months old when he went to prison.
“That was the hardest part of being in that prison,” he told The National. "No one ever told you what you did or how long you were going to stay. Sometimes I don’t feel free because I’ve been traumatised. I still dream of being in prison.”
In his first interview since leaving prison, Mr Symons told of how: (with film)
(A P)
A young man has died of torture at the hands of Houthis in Aljawf, the exiled national Committee on Human Rights for the province said on Wednesday. In a statement, the committee said Ali Hadi bin Rabaqa, 25, a tribesman from Khab and Alshaaf died of horrific torture for two months "in one of the terrorist militia's jails." His kidnapping and torture comes as part of the daily crimes the Houthi militia keep exercising against the people of Aljawf/Aden Alghad.
https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-55993
Fortsetzung / Sequel: cp6 – cp19
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-807b-yemen-war-mosaic-807b
Vorige / Previous:
https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-806-yemen-war-mosaic-806
Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-806 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-806:
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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