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"Kids Playing in the Street - Sana'a, Yemen 1982" by Gareth1953 All Right Now is licensed under CC BY 2.0; Image has been cropped and tinted
THE YEMENI CRISIS
THE YEMENI CRISIS
Called the "world's worst humanitarian crisis," Yemen is plagued by war, disease and famine
Yemen, a small, underdeveloped nation in the middle east, was dubbed the “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” by the United Nations (UN) back in 2015, after war and famine broke out in the country. Today, in 2020, the situation has only escalated, especially with the introduction of COVID-19.
Yemen is currently facing a triple threat as war, disease, and famine run rampant in the country. Home to over 28 million people, Yemen lies on the outer Arabian peninsula on the Gulf of Aden. Unfortunately, due to the country’s location and proximity to other hotspots for conflict, Yemen has been in a tough spot for the last 5 years.
War
Yemen’s former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was forced to step down from his position in late 2011 and hand power to his vice president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. He was forced to step down as part of a deal to maintain peace in the Middle East. Hadi’s appointment did not sit well with many of the Yemeni people, especially irritating a group known as the Houthis. The Houthis, claiming to be loyal to Saleh, are a group of Shiite Muslims backed by Iran who rebelled against Yemen's government, which they considered to be corrupt. The Houthis took the Yemen capital city Sana’a in 2014. Due to this, Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, the country that had backed him in the conflict. As Saudi Arabia and Iran are bitter rivals, both backing either side of the conflict, war has broken out in Yemen between the two sides. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly bombed Yemen in an attempt to neutralize the threat, but it has killed over 12,000 innocent civilians in the process.
Disease
Yemen, like the rest of the world, has fallen victim to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of September 15th, 583 Yemenis have died from COVID-19 related causes, although the toll could be unknowingly higher, as the country’s medical infrastructure has been compromised by the war. Alongside COVID, the nation has been suffering an outbreak of the Chikungunya virus, which is spread by mosquitoes. As of November 2019, there are also over two million suspected cases of cholera, which is a severe bacterial disease that spreads most often by consuming contaminated water; this outbreak is also linked directly to the famine that has been ravaging the country for years on end. Due to how poor the nation is, Yemen cannot keep its citizens healthy or cure them of their current ailments.
"Ensuring Every Girl a Right to an Education in Yemen" by USAID_IMAGES is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0;
Famine
According to The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, or UNICEF, 10 million people in Yemen are currently facing famine; of those 10 million, 2 million are acutely malnourished children. Famine in the country has been ongoing since 2016 as a result of the ongoing war, and at least 85,000 children have died of hunger as of 2018. An average of 130 children die per day of famine, while the adult casualties are unknown. Amidst the coronavirus pandemic, there have been major shortfalls of the country’s humanitarian aid funding-- funding that over 24 million Yemeni people desperately need. Without an estimate of at least $5.4 million in emergency funding to compensate for the lack of these funds, the country could reach a tipping point, causing even more irreversible damage, and potentially the fragmentation of the country into warring territories.
Sarah has been attending Edgewood since 7th grade, and this is her first year on the Edge staff. She enjoys drawing and playing tennis. As a 2020 staff writer, she hopes to reach students with stories she believes they’d find interesting.
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