What’s going on in Yemen?
For those unfamiliar with Yemen, Yemen is a small country located in the Middle East at the southern end of the Arabian peninsula. Prior to now facing its worst life threatening crisis, everything in Yemen for the most part thrived. People we’re living life without any fear of getting bombed or killed. There’s a large number of people who may not be informed or blinded to the issues that are happening in Yemen which have been happening for the past 5 years. But I’m here to cover things that are happening now in Yemen, and how it’s impacting the lives of many people till this day. The Middle East has been going through conflicts and social instability that impacted the lives of millions of people. The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011. As president, Mr Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by jihadists, a separatist movement in the south, the continuing loyalty of security personnel to Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity (BBC news). since the breakdown of the public authority, viciousness, starvation, and infection have tormented Yemen.
Food and water should be accessible for everyone around the world, however due to this tragedy many people lack these basic humanitarian needs. According to “Health and Humanitarian crisis in Yemen: The Health system in Yemen is close to collapse and 13 million people are at risk of starvation. Most affected are children” (2018). Author Pocock, Lesley a Publisher and Managing Director, medi+ World International. She backs up her claim by expressing the inhuman state that the Yemeni people are going through. “More than 80% of Yemen’s population lacks food, fuel, drinking water and access to health care services, leaving the population vulnerable to diseases that can generally be cured or eradicated elsewhere in the world. Yemeni children are literally starving to death and the world has seen the dreadful images of small children just skin and bones, their bodies bloated, and too weak to lift their heads and limbs, on the nightly news on their television screens”(pg21). Lesley’s purpose is to educate the reader of what is going on in the other side of the world so that they could know about it in order to bring awareness and help out the innocent people.
This war caused the death of many innocent people, and torn many families , “The Menace From Disintegrating Yemen”, (2015), author Henderson, Simon asserts the civil war in Yemen impacted the lives of many people in a negative way and caused hundred of thousands deaths. And suggests that actions should be taken by the rest of the world or it would continue on for many more years. He backs up this claim by telling us what is happening in Yemen. Simon appears to write in hopes of raising awareness to the issues that are occurring now in Yemen. In order to change this problem in society the author wants to achieve being able to convey this message to many people that are unaware of the circumstances in Yemen. Because of the author’s tone, it seems as if he writes for the public in general. Furthermore, a News Editor for the Washington Report on Middle East Affair, author Hanley, Delinda. In her proceeding article published in (2018) based off of a panel. It addresses the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and gives some ideas on how to end it. To begin with, “According to March figures published by the U.N. Refugee Agency, the conflict has left 22.2 million people–75 percent of the population–in need of humanitarian assistance. Millions face safety threats as well as risks from famine and outbreaks of diseases, including cholera. More than 5.4 million people require shelter and core relief items”(pg1). This demonstrates how huge of a deal this is, and if the world doesn’t interfere the lives of many millions are in danger. Furthermore, “Alkebsi pointed out that Yemen has long depended on remittances sent home from workers outside the country. “Out of the 6-8 million Yemeni expats,” he said, “about 2 million of them are in Saudi Arabia, and 100,000 of them have been deported since December, and more will be deported.” Each worker feeds about a dozen Yemenis”(pg1). This is true in the Yemen world, families in Yemen are dependent on their family members who are working abroad to provide food to the table. If you prevent them from working, which in this case Saudi Arabia did they would not be able to feed their families which would cause the death of many people. “Dr. Nabeel Khoury, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East, urged Washington to rethink the prism of terrorism through which it has viewed the conflict. U.S. strategy should focus on domestic politics and development needs, not drone strikes, Khoury said. He called for the creation of an international development fund for Yemen to rebuild infrastructure, including roads, schools, clinics and water management.” If the U.S., one of the world powers, interfere and do this: building roads, and rebuilding infrastructure it would show how great America is, but instead they are sending drones instead of aid. What it also needs to be done is establishing a Democratic government that would protect its people and treat everyone fairly without the fear of dying.
In the e-Book, “Destroying Yemen: What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World” (2018), author Isa Blumi who completed an MA in Political Theory and Historical Studies at the New School for Social Research in New York, United States. Studying in the History, Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies departments, he graduated with a Ph. D. in 2005 from New York University. Asserts that, Saudi-lead worldwide alliance of powers—upheld by Britain and the United States—has pursued a wrecking battle in Yemen. He backs up his claim by discussing what has happened in Yemen, “Western-built warplanes unleashed four waves of airstrikes targeting the building in which much of North Yemen’s political and eco-nomic elite were paying their respect… The coalition targets everything from transport infrastructure (bridges, roads, ports) to food processing plants, farmlands, food stores, markets, and water wells. The resulting famine has almost without exception been kept out of the media. Among the few journalists who have reported on the famine, some persuasively argue that starvation is strategic rather than collateral”.
Authors Choksy, Carol E. B. Choksy, Jamsheed K, article “UNSTABLE, UNRULY, AND REPROBATE: The Middle East Today” (2016) , asserts the conflict that’s been going on in the Middle east. They back up their claim by discussing everything that’s been going on in the Middle East. Carol E. B. and Jamsheed K appear to write in hopes of giving the reader knowledge of what’s been happening in the middle east for the past years. Author’s purpose in writing this is to inform the general public. In the journal article “Morbidities & outcomes of a neonatal intensive care unit in a complex humanitarian conflict setting, Hajjah Yemen: 2017-2018”, by Alshehari AH, Al-Maktari F, and Eze P. The authors assert the challenges that the civil War brought to public health and how it impacted hospitals. They back up their claim by giving numbers and percentages of what they’re talking about. Because of the author’s tones the purpose in writing is to show the world what is happening on the other side of the world.
In conclusion, Yemen is going through an exceptionally troublesome, difficult stretch and the rest of the world should wake up and see what’s happening to the people of Yemen. Because at the end of the day we are all humans and if we are in need of something the others that are doing well should lend a helping hand and be there to help put them back on their feets. Aren’t we all humans.
Choksy, Jamsheed K., and Carol E. B. Choksy. “UNSTABLE, UNRULY, AND REPROBATE: The Middle East Today.” World Affairs, vol. 179, no. 1, Spring 2016, pp. 58–69. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1177/0043820016662744.
Eze, Paul, et al. “Morbidities & Outcomes of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in a Complex Humanitarian Conflict Setting, Hajjah Yemen: 2017-2018.” Conflict & Health, vol. 14, no. 1, July 2020, pp. 1–10. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1186/s13031-020-00297-7.
Hanley, Delinda C. “Ending the Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen.” Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, vol. 37, no. 4, June 2018, pp. 63–64. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=129877544&site=ehost-live.
Pocock, Lesley. “Health and Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen: The Health System in Yemen Is Close to Collapse and 13 Million People Are at Risk of Starvation. Most Affected Are Children.” Middle East Journal of Family Medicine, vol. 16, no. 10, Nov. 2018, pp. 20–22. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=133549961&site=ehost-live.
Isa Blumi. Destroying Yemen : What Chaos in Arabia Tells Us About the World. University of California Press, 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=nlebk&AN=1629097&site=ehost-live.
