On Sept. 21, 2018 Mark Lowcock, the UN emergency Coordinator, gave a briefing to the Security Council on the present situation in Yemen. (video, full text) Lowcock said “We may now be approaching a tipping point, beyond which it will be impossible to prevent massive loss of life as a result of widespread famine across the country.” In other words, Yemen is on the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe of enormous proportions.
It has repeatedly been said that the war in Yemen, now in it’s fourth year, is not covered enough by the international media. Even if and when it was covered it was often not made clear how much Western governments are involved in the conflict, because of their lucrative trade in arms with the Saudi led coalition. Most EU member states are selling arms to Saudi Arabia with the UK being the biggest exporter followed by France and and Germany (list of the top ten EU arms exporters to Saudi Arabia).
However, European protests against this sale of arms are finally becoming more noticeable. English MP Emily Thornberry recently held a powerful speech in the House of Commons in which she detailed the UK’s involvement in the conflict. Thornberry demanded an immediate suspension of the sale of UK arms destined for use in the war in Yemen. German MP Stefan Liebich criticised the German involvement in the Bundestag in February. Liebich called for an immediate end to all German arms exports to Saudi Arabia. In Italy, local politician Mauro Pili, has tried to bring attention to the Italian arms export from Sardinia to the Saudis, arms that were proven to have been used in Yemen. (1) Pili, too has spoken out against any further exports from Italy. French President Emmanuel Macron recently defended French arms sales, but polls showed 75% of the French population want their government to suspend arms exports to Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
The first EU member state to stop selling arms to Saudi Arabia were the Netherlands. The Spanish government seemed to follow the Dutch example when the cancelled an arms deal in September, but in a spectacular U-turn the Spanish government decided to go through with the deal after all.
Martha Mundy has collected and analyzed data on the aerial bombardemnt in Yemen. her findings stronglz suggest that the current humanitarian crisis in Yemen is not a side effect of the four years of war but the result of a carefully pursued strategy by the Saudi led coalition. Mundy concludes: "If one places the damage to the resources of food producers (farmers, herders, and fishers) alongside the targeting of food processing, storage and transport in urban areas and the wider economic war, there is strong evidence that Coalition strategy has aimed to destroy food production and distribution in the areas under the control of San'a'. As described above, from autumn of 2016, economic war has compounded physical destruction to create a mass failure in basic livelihoods."
Political awareness of the conflict in Yemen and of the European involvement must be raised and protests must increase. A truce in Yemen needs to be achieved as soon as possible. Because time is running out fast for millions of Yemenis.
Podcast published on 6th November 2018 in the Guardian detailing the British involvement in the war.
(1) The German program Die Anstalt from 27th March 2018 focuses on German arms exports and details how government regulations are bypassed by German arms manufacturers. One example is Rheinmetall which bought up the Italian firm in Sardinia and has used the site to produce and export bombs to Saudi Arabia.
Stop the War in Yemen (German organization)
Stop the War coalition (UK)
Petitions you can sign:
Oxfam site (with a petition)
Belgian Amnesty International Site (with a petition against the sale of arms from Wallonia)
change.org petition
Moveon Petitions
Acat (French organisation against the War in Yemen)
Yemen – Rete della Pace (Italy)