Recent conflicts with providing aid to those in need in Yemen
Brandon Alexander
The recent conflicts and war in between government and rebel forces in Yemen marks even more disastrous situations for the civilians caught in the crossfire. Specifically, civilians in Yemen are unable to receive much needed medical and resource-based aid. Since March 2015, there have been well over 7,000 reported deaths and approximately 40,000 injuries following conflict between the government and the Houthi rebellion forces.
According to BBC last Tuesday, a large percentage of the death and injury count comes largely from air strikes by a “…Saudi-led multinational coalition that backs the president,” (BBC). Many of the areas airstrikes and fighting have occurred at or near medical centers and have either completely destroyed or rendered the buildings dangerous and non-functional. According to the World Health Organization; “Only 45% of current health facilities are fully functional and accessible, 38% are partially functional, and 17% are completely non-functional.” In conjunction with the medical centers, issues circulating around Yemen’s Hodeidah port in the city of Al Hudaydah present even more hardships in the distribution of resources and aid to those in need.
In a Reuters article yesterday, March 31st, the Hodeidah port was reported as being Yemen’s largest port that received “more than 70% of humanitarian aid and food imports”. However, due to the present of armed Houthi forces in the area, it’s become increasingly difficult to distribute the aid and materials to civilians. In the UN Press Briefing on Friday, March 31st, Deputy Spokesman Farhan Haq responded to a question regarding the progress of the access of food and aid. He stated: “We want civilians to be able to receive humanitarian assistance as efficiently and effectively as possible. One of the things we’re strongly urging is that all ports should remain open to receive commercial and humanitarian inputs into Yemen.”
This harkens back to a March 20th Newsweek op-ed by Yemen’s ambassador to the US, Ahmed Awad Binmubarak. There, Ambassador Binmubarak stated: “Our government recognizes the significance of Hodeidah’s port for aid delivery and therefore rooting out the Houthis will eliminate their destructive meddling in aid distribution.” Whether or not the UN plans to engage the Houthi forces at the Hodeidah port is yet to be seen, though it seems unlikely as UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed stated at a panel on November 7th, 2016 that the UN would advocate that “no military operations should be undertaken in Hodeidah,” (Reuters).