Monday, November 09, 2015

The War the West Ignores

 Yemeni civilians are starving as the international community allows an economic blockade to continue. 

The Saudi Arabian blockade has hit Yemen hard for a number of reasons. It is a resource-scarce nation that heavily depends on imports for food and fuel. According to Oxfam, 90 percent of staple food items, such as wheat and rice are imported. Trade has nearly ground to a halt. Meanwhile humanitarian aid organisations are struggling to deliver aid. Humanitarian assistance can only do so much and whatever assistance is administered today will not feed the population forever as Yemen faces a severe economic crisis. And getting aid in is no guarantee that it gets evenly distributed to the various regions. The limited amount of humanitarian aid that is reaching civilians is crucial and necessary, but not enough.

Much attention was rightly paid to the US bombing of a MSF hospital in Afghanistand. In contrast the media have neglected to highlight the bombing of another MSF hospital, this time in Yemen, most likely by aircraft of the Saudi-led Coalition,

 If the international community pressures the Gulf-States’ coalition to lift the blockade the people of Yemen will have a chance at survival. 

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