A devastating toll

As a reality check to claims that lives are being ‘saved’ in Yemen, a report released by Unicef has said that at least 5,000 children have been killed due to the deadly conflict in the country. This is almost five child casualties per day. Another 400,000 children are severely malnourished and, in the words of the UN agency, ‘fighting for their lives’. Unfortunately, the world appears to suffer from the mistaken belief that it is doing enough. The tragedy of at least two million children unknot being able to continue education – and almost three million children born during the war – is hard to imagine. The Yemeni government in exile has called upon the world to provide aid so that famine can be averted. The clarion call has been heard by its ally, Saudi Arabia. The cash crisis has been so great that the government has been unable to pay salaries while over one million Yemeni government employees have lost their jobs. The irony of one of the countries causing the crisis coming to the ‘aid’ of the beleaguered country is not unique. The Saudi bailout package sounds much like the redevelopment funds committed by the US to Afghanistan and Iraq. The aim is simply to keep the exiled Yemen government afloat. In actual fact, the money is part of the costs of war and will do nothing to stem the famine-like situation gripping the country.

But talk of numbers can make one forget the very real human lives at stake. The UN has called the war in Yemen the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. The country now also faces a malaria outbreak with almost half a million cases estimated amidst a crippled healthcare system. The only way to avert the crisis is to end the war, an outcome that none of the key parties seem to want. The perpetual-war model in the Middle East has been embraced by both Saudi Arabia and Iran – and their global backers. Not only does this hurt the people of Yemen, it is not a model that either of the two big countries can support. In some good news, Germany has announced that it is stopping arms exports to countries involved in the Yemen war. The fact is that many of the world’s biggest arms suppliers are providing the fuel that feeds the Yemen civil war. However, hoping for other countries to follow Germany’s example – with an absolute arms embargo – may just be too much wishful thinking in today’s world.