The US
is Helping Create a Famine in Yemen
By
Kathy Kelly
May 03,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- On April 26th, 2017, in Yemen’s port city of
Hodeidah, the Saudi-led coalition which has been
waging war in Yemen for the past two years
dropped leaflets informing Hodeidah’s residents
of an impending attack. “Our forces of
legitimacy are heading to liberate Hodeidah and
end the suffering of our gracious Yemeni
people,” one leaflet read. “Join your legitimate
government in favor of the free and happy
Yemen.” And another: “The control of the
Hodeidah port by the terrorist Houthi militia
will increase famine and hinder the delivery of
international relief aid to our gracious Yemeni
people.”
The
leaflets represent one aspect of a confusing and
highly complicated set of battles raging in
Yemen. Given alarming reports about near famine
conditions in Yemen, it seems the only ethical
“side” for outsiders to choose would be that of
children and families afflicted by hunger and
disease.
Yet the United States has decidedly taken the
side of the Saudi-led Gulf Cooperation Council.
Consider a
Reuters
report on April 19, 2017, after U.S. Defense
Secretary James Mattis met with senior Saudi
officials. “U.S. support for the Saudi-led
coalition was discussed including what more
assistance the United States could provide,
including potential intelligence support,” U.S.
officials said, according to the report. The
Reuters notes that Mattis believes
“Iran’s destabilizing influence in the Middle
East would have to be overcome to end the
conflict in Yemen, as the United States weighs
increasing support to the Saudi-led coalition
fighting there.”
Iran may be providing some weapons to the Houthi
rebels, but it’s important to clarify what
support the United States has given to the
Saudi-led coalition. As of March 21, 2016, Human
Rights Watch
reported the following weapon sales, in 2015 to
the Saudi government:
—
July 2015, the US Defense Department
approved a
number of weapons sales to Saudi Arabia,
including a US $5.4 billion deal for 600 Patriot
Missiles and a $500 million
deal for more
than a million rounds of ammunition, hand
grenades, and other items, for the Saudi army.
—
According to the
US Congressional review,
between May and September, the US sold $7.8
billion worth of weapons to the Saudis.
—
In October, the US government
approved the
sale to Saudi Arabia of up to four Lockheed
Littoral Combat Ships for $11.25 billion.
—
In November, the US
signed an arms
deal with Saudi Arabia worth $1.29 billion for
more than 10,000 advanced air-to-surface
munitions including laser-guided bombs, “bunker
buster” bombs, and MK84 general purpose bombs;
the Saudis have used all three in Yemen.
Reporting about the role of the United Kingdom
in selling weapons to the Saudis, Peace News
notes that “since the bombing began in March
2015, the United Kingdom has licensed over
$4.26 billion worth of arms
to the regime, including:
— $2.84
billion worth of ML10 licenses (aircraft,
helicopters, drones)
— $1.42
billion worth of ML4 licenses (grenades, bombs,
missiles, countermeasures)
— $55,
5700 worth of ML6 licenses (armored vehicles,
tanks)
What has the Saudi-led coalition done with all
of this weaponry? A
United Nations High Commissioner for Human
Rights panel of
experts found “At least 3,200 civilians have
been killed and 5,700 wounded since coalition
military operations began, 60 percent of them in
coalition airstrikes.”
A
Human Rights Watch report,
referring to the UN panel’s findings, notes that
the panel documented attacks on camps for
internally displaced persons and refugees;
civilian gatherings, including weddings;
civilian vehicles, including buses; civilian
residential areas; medical facilities; schools;
mosques; markets, factories and food storage
warehouses; and other essential civilian
infrastructure, such as the airport in Sana’a,
the port in Hodeidah and domestic transit
routes.”
Five
cranes in Hodeidah which were formerly used to
offload goods from ships arriving in the port
city were destroyed by Saudi airstrikes. Seventy
percent of Yemen’s food comes through the port
city.
Saudi
coalition airstrikes have hit at least four
hospitals supported by
Doctors Without Borders.
In
light of these findings, the leaflets fluttering
down from Saudi jets on the beleaguered city of
Hodeidah, encouraging residents to side with the
Saudis “in favor of the free and happy Yemen”
seem exceptionally bizarre.
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UN agencies have clamored for humanitarian
relief. Yet the role the UN Security Council has
played in calling for negotiations seems
entirely lopsided. On April 14, 2016,
UN Security Council Resolution 2216
demanded “that all parties in the embattled
country, in particular the Houthis, immediately
and unconditionally end violence and refrain
from further unilateral actions that threatened
the political transition.” At no point is Saudi
Arabia mentioned in the Resolution.
Speaking on December 19, 2016, Sheila Carpico,
Professor of Political Science at the University
of Richmond and a leading Yemen specialist
called the UN Security Council sponsored
negotiations a cruel joke.
These negotiations are based on UN Security
Council resolutions
2201 and
2216.
Resolution 2216 of 14 April 2015, reads as if
Saudi Arabia is an impartial arbitrator rather
than a party to an escalating conflict, and as
if the Gulf Cooperation Council “transition
plan” offers a “peaceful, inclusive, orderly and
Yemeni-led political transition process that
meets the legitimate demands and aspirations of
the Yemeni people, including women.”
Although scarcely three weeks into the Saudi-led
intervention the UN’s deputy secretary-general
for human rights said that the majority of the
600 people already killed were civilian victims
of Saudi and coalition airstrikes, UNSC 2216
called only on “Yemeni parties” to end the use
of violence. There was no mention of the
Saudi-led intervention. There was similarly no
call for a humanitarian pause or corridor.
The UN
Security Council resolution seems as bizarre as
the leaflets delivered by the Saudi jets.
The
U.S. Congress could put an end to U.S.
complicity in the crimes against humanity being
committed by military forces in Yemen. Congress
could insist that the United States stop
supplying the Saudi-led coalition with weapons,
stop helping Saudi jets to refuel, end
diplomatic cover for Saudi Arabia and stop
providing the Saudis with intelligence support.
Perhaps the U.S. Congress would move in this
direction if elected representatives believed
that their constituents care deeply about these
issues. In today’s political climate, public
pressure has become vital.
Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist,
pacifist and author, one of the founding members
of Voices in the Wilderness, and currently a
co-coordinator of Voices for Creative
Nonviolence.
The
views expressed in this article are solely those
of the author and do not necessarily reflect the
opinions of Information Clearing House.
