Yemen is Dying of Starvation, Cholera and Saudi Bombs

The world’s largest single-nation humanitarian crisis is happening now in the Middle East’s poorest country, Yemen.

It started as a story so familiar it’s painful. A struggling nation ousts its authoritarian ruler and instability results in a key location for global oil channels, with wealthy nations trying to control the outcome. Heard that one before?

Now, two and a half years into the “forgotten war,” over 10,000 Yemeni are dead, many of them civilians. Saudi airstrikes have caused more than half of civilian casualties, with help from U.S. finance, weapons and intelligence.

Saudi Arabia has been widely criticized for violating international human rights with their indiscriminate bombing campaigns.

More recent developments have turned downright catastrophic. With resources cut off by neighboring Saudi Arabia, who view Yemen as sympathetic to their political enemy Iran, Yemen is starving.

A million children under the age of five are malnourished. The violence and hunger have created an outbreak of 500,000 cases of cholera. UNICEF is expecting up to 300,000 more to become infected in the following weeks, many of them children.

But getting aid to Yemen isn’t easy. The UN has accused the Saudi-lead coalition of blocking fuel supplies to aid aircraft. Saudi bombs have also destroyed hospitals operated by Doctors Without Borders.

Cholera is a disease that has all but disappeared from developing countries. It usually stems from contaminated water. If untreated, the disease can lead to fatal dehydration.

Background on the War in Yemen

During the widespread uprisings of the Arab Spring, the Yemeni people demanded the resignation of authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh. After an assassination attempt left him injured, Saleh transferred power to his vice president, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Hadi is now the internationally recognized president of Yemen. But an uprising of Houthi rebels has taken hold, and captured major swaths of Yemen territory. The rebels have been fighting against the Yemeni establishment since Saleh was president. Now they enjoy Saleh’s support.

A Saudi-lead coalition of aggressive military forces, including the U.S., the UK, and France, is supporting the Hadi government against the rebels.

Matters are complicated by the presence of ISIL and al-Qaeda forces, and stoked by Sunni-Shia animosity.

Though poor, Yemen sits on the Bab al-Mandab strait, which connects the Red Sea with the Gulf of Adan. It’s an important channel for oil shipments. Saudi Arabia wants Yemen to participate in the Gulf Cooperation Council, an economic union of the monarchies of the Arabian Peninsula. Saleh opposed this when he was president.

Now Saudis Want Out

According to emails supplied by hackers to The Intercept, key Saudi figures wish to withdraw from the conflict in Yemen.

The new crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, has also donated $66.7 million for cholera relief. It’s a strange move for the man who worked as defense minister overseeing the bombing campaigns only months ago.

And it’s a drop in the bucket for someone who spent $550 million on a yacht a couple years ago, but it’s still an important gesture. The money went to UNICEF and the World Health Organization.

The charitable maneuver was one of the crown prince’s first acts after taking the throne. It could signal a de-escalation of the violence in Yemen.

Meanwhile, two thirds of the population of Yemen–that’s over 20 million people–are still in urgent need of humanitarian aid. The UN has raised only half of the amount necessary to support ongoing aid, and is urging the world to stop ignoring this “forgotten war.”