Yemen ten years on
Summary: on 21 September 2014 the Huthis took control of Sana’a.
Ten years on Yemen's 32 million people are threatened by extreme levels
of deprivation, economic deterioration and a looming environmental
disaster that threatens the collapse of an agricultural sector involving
more than 50% of the population.
We thank our regular contributor Helen Lackner for today’s article.
An expert on Yemen, Helen also works as a freelance rural development
consultant with a particular interest in water, among other
environmental issues. SAQI Books has published the paperback edition with new material of her Yemen In Crisis, now subtitled Devastating Conflict, Fragile Hope. It is a seminal study of the war, what lies behind it and what needs to happen for it to finally end. Her latest book Yemen: Poverty and Conflict was published by Routledge in 2022. You can find Helen’s most recent Arab Digest podcast “Yemen in the Gaza war” here.
As the Huthis celebrate ten years of their take-over of the capital
Sana’a, Yemenis either under their control or under that of any faction
of the Internationally Recognised Government [IRG] have little to
celebrate. All aspects of the humanitarian situation are characterised
by negative indicators. Beyond each figure are real, live, people,
women, men and children who are despairing of the future as well as
suffering ill-health, malnutrition, insecurity and premature death.
Ending conflict is essential to seriously improve people’s living
conditions. In the current international context, there is little room
for hope. While the Gaza genocide continues, the Huthis will not end
their missile attacks on the Red Sea and Israel, regardless of Israeli
and other international retaliation, despite the fact that military
response to their actions is likely to intensify in destructiveness,
leaving frozen what little progress there ever was in the ‘peace
process’.
As of mid-September, the far reduced 2024 UN humanitarian response plan is financed at only 28 per cent, with food security
funding, i.e. emergency food and cash distributions, at only 18 per
cent of requirement. It is worth remembering that the 2023 plan asked
for US$ 4.3 billion and received 40% by the end of the year while the
2024 figure has slipped to US$ 2.7 billion.
Some areas in Yemen have reached the most extreme level of
deprivation, namely famine: “62 per cent of surveyed households … do not
have enough food to eat….three districts – two in Hodeidah and one in
Taiz – are facing extremely critical levels of malnutrition – IPC Phase
5… By the end of 2024, more than 600,000 children in (IRG) Government of
Yemen-controlled areas are estimated to be acutely malnourished, and
around 118,000 are projected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition – a
34 per cent increase since 2023.” For readers unfamiliar with this
classification, IPC phase 5 is famine, according to the strict UN
criteria which are difficult to verify. As specified by the UN’s senior
humanitarian official, this covers only the “surveyed” households, all
of them in the area under IRG control. Between July and October, the
hungry season, 117 districts are projected to experience "serious”
levels of acute malnutrition or worse (IPC phase 3+), and Mawza district
in Taizz lowlands to slip into phase 5. Note that these data ignore the
70% of the population living under Huthi rule
This deplorable situation
is “driven by the compounded effect of disease outbreaks (cholera and
measles), high food insecurity, limited access to safe drinking water,
and economic decline.” Overall food consumption is severely affected by
the collapsed economy, lack of employment opportunities, reduced
agricultural production and, of course, the reduced humanitarian aid.
Where World Food Programme (WFP) support is ongoing, rations and cash
provided are 40% of basic WFP rations. In IRG areas, 3.6 million people
are receiving this support by comparison with the 17 million people in
need throughout the country.
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