The U.S. State Department issued a statement on Thursday: “A pause … would allow international aid organizations to deliver urgently needed food, medicine, and fuel to citizens throughout Yemen.” On Wednesday, the UN designated the ongoing war in Yemen as a level 3 humanitarian crisis, the highest level indicating a severe crisis. The UN claims that four out of five Yemenis are in need of some type of aId.
In earlier peace talks the Yemeni government-in-exile of president Mansour Hadi, located in Ryadh, Saudi Arabia, rejected a temporary halt to fighting and demanded the UN resolution requiring the Houthi rebels to withdraw from territory seized and disarm be implemented before any ceasefire. Surprise, surprise, the Houthis, who still control most of western Yemen and even much of the south, would not cooperate. The Houthis wanted a temporary ceasefire during which there would be further negotiations. The Houthis would not talk with representatives of the Hadi government. They regard it as illegitimate. They wanted to talk with Saudi Arabia whom they correctly recognize as the real power in the conflict. The present Yemen government is powerless and would not exist without Saudi Arabia, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the U.S.
The real powers behind the Hadi government have finally decided that they are all on the receiving end of a horrible press that simply describes the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen that has been created by bombings and continued support for a government that has little chance of being returned to power. The least that can be done is to allow for a pause to help the millions of Yemenis in need of aid. Infectious diseases such as dengue fever are spreading rapidly.
Yemen’s government-in-exile has now told the UN Security Council that Saudi Arabia will soon announce a “humanitarian pause” in the conflict according to Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Vladimir Safronkov. Notice the language. It is not called a temporary ceasefire since that was just recently rejected by the Hadi government. Safronkov said:“The Security Council members had a consensus that there is no military solution to the conflict and called on the representatives of the Yemeni government to work on restoring the political process with the goal of ending the military actions as soon as possible.”
There was a ceasefire in May but there were violations and it was not extended. Peace talks in Geneva failed to reach any agreement. Finally, it seems that the real powers behind the government-in-exile appear ready for at least a temporary ceasefire and have forced the Hadi government to agree. The military campaign has been an unmitigated disaster as costly infrastructure is being ruined, and civilians are being slaughtered as collateral damage to bombing and clashes on the ground. Al Qaeada in the Arabian Peninsula(AQAP), has taken advantage of the chaos, and the desire of Sunni tribes to stop the advance of the Houthis, to bring more territory under their own control. Meanwhile, the US still continues drone strikes against AQAP no doubt infuriating locals in areas where AQAP is in control. The Saudis have refrained from bombing AQAP areas since AQAP are one of the most effective forces confronting the Houthis. The Islamic State is taking advantage of the chaos to spread even further mayhem through suicide attacks on the Houthis in the capital and elsewhere.
Abdullah al-Saidi a minister in the Hadi government said in an interview that a pause could be announced as early as today, July 4. Early this morning, however, the capital Sanaa came under heavy bombardment just after 1 AM local time. There have been some attacks in residential areas where rebel leaders or their relatives had houses. One attack earlier damaged a historic site and another hit a UN compound wounding a guard.
