The silent war in Yemen

Yemen’s situation is one of the worse situations the world has known for the past decades. Recently highlighted by the international community, this war started in 2014.. The UN is now talking about resolutions in order to find solutions. This conflict has caused killed thousands and thousands of civilians and soldier. This war is also […]

Yemen’s situation is one of the worse situations the world has known for the past decades. Recently highlighted by the international community, this war started in 2014.. The UN is now talking about resolutions in order to find solutions. This conflict has caused killed thousands and thousands of civilians and soldier. This war is also called the « Silent War ».

How and why did all begun ? 

Huthi rebels are a big threat for Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government

In 2011, during the geopolitical era called the ” Arab Spring ” many Arabic countries were looking for some more justice and democracy in their States institutions, and Yemen was part of them. It was about  the opposition between the President Salleh, head of the government for 34 years and the Huthi rebels. The specificity of Yemen’s situation is also due to rivalries between the two regional powers such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. The political situation has provoked a collapse of the State institution which has more or less disappeared. After 34 years leading the country, Saleh had to quit. However the transition after his departure  did not stay in place more than two years. After this period things begun to go worse and worse.

The city of Sanaa has been taken by the rebels provoking the banishment of President Hadi in March 2015. Saudi Arabia has chosen to use military intervention in  the Yemen lead by Ben Salman.  The country is in a coalition which has reinforced the military engagement.

The USA  has also given some logistic help to Riyad, and all of this has taken the form of aerial bombardments. The movement lead by the Huthi let us think about the situations in Yemen during the 1990’s when the country has been split in two with on the one hand the North and on the other hand the South. Today this rebels are accused of the being the actor of massive crimes (war crimes) in Yemen and also for having destroyed strategic places such as ports, fabrics and residences. In 2016 some investigations have shown that there are more than 50 000 deaths in the country due to the conflict. Today in 2018 the State institution is nonexistent, and people working for those institutions are not paid since 2016.

Moreover, the country imports more than 90% of their products and only depends of those importations. The risk of a lack of water for the huge part of the population living in the country is also very important and has been highlighted by he UN : estimations show that would be around 8 millions of people concerned. The Country is also under the threat of the AQPA organisation which is taken seriously by the USA. The American power lead by Donald Trump has clearly shown its sustain toward Saudi Arabia by giving 130 million dollars of weapons.

This war is also a humanitarian challenge.

What is the situation now ? Saudi Arabia is feeling trapped by its war and did not realize that it would be for years and years of conflict when it decided to intervene. Iran doesn’t have any interest in the country, but their reasons were about showing their power toward their rivals, which is Saudi Arabia and now one of the meanings of this big crisis is between Saudi Arabia and Iran giving his political sustain to Yemen and both try to show their influence in this territory.

There were three cycles of negotiations for peace. But the USA is side to side with the Saudi Arabia and Russia has also its words to say in the UN talking which put some obstacles about finding peace. And this brought complications during the UN councils in order to find some solutions. Now we are wondering which are the main roles of the other power of the world  about this war happening? France has been targeted for having sold weapons. Moreover the European Country has ratified the treaty about trade in weapons and this is also why it has been designed as being an actor in this war.

What are the solutions possible? Saudi Arabia and Arabic Emirates have promised the 20th of November (2018) to give each 250 millions of dollars to help Yemen to the UN and other non governmental organisations. They first gave 500 million in 2015 to support the president. The help announced by those countries is more important today because more than a high risk of a lack of water, Yemen is now stroke by starvation with is able to kill 85.000 children within 5 years from now.

The UN is also talking about a consensus between powers in order to find any stability and establish the peace in this region.In Sweden it has been told that Washing has been talking about peace talks  and some other negotiations and solutions expected for December 2018.

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