Inuth.com: Syria vs Yemen: One gets international attention, other dies in silence

As per the UN, 80 per cent of the Yemeni population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance

More than 10,000 people have been killed and around 35,000 injured since March 2015 when Saudi-led coalition launched a military operation to restore the rule of internationally recognized President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Yemen civil war is an ongoing conflict which began in 2015 between Houthi forces, supporting former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh based in the capital Sana’a and the forces loyal to Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government controlling Aden.

The war has taken its toll on a country which is anyways one of the least developed and poorest countries in the Middle East. As per the UN, 80 per cent of the Yemeni population is in dire need of humanitarian assistance, thanks to the severe humanitarian crisis there. According to WHO, over 1,440 cases of Cholera have been reported due to damaged infrastructure and lack of proper sanitation. Also, as per another UNICEF report, around 14 million people are malnourished, and 370,000 children have been estimated to be starving, especially in the rural areas.

YEMEN- A VICTIM OF IGNORANCE

However, unlike the Syrian war, Yemen war is not gaining any international attention. When was the last time you read the war reports from Yemen? Do you have a clear idea of who’s fighting whom there? Is anyone trying to resolve the crisis which was simmering for years and finally broke into war two years back?

The Yemen war has got the least coverage and barely bothers the world’s top decision makers. Yes, the scale of Yemen war is less catastrophic than Syria and less dramatic. Yemen’s death toll is far less than that of Syria. But the international attention is way beyond the number of casualties. For instance, millions of people were killed and displaced in Congo but hardly received any global attention, whereas a similar situation in Sudan did.

It mainly depends on a country’s significance to America and the Western world. A conflict gains America’s attention only if it provides a story appealing enough to both the masses and the politicians. Most of the times it also needs to resonate with American economic interest.

WHY IS YEMEN NOT IMPORTANT ENOUGH

Yemen, one of the world’s poorest countries, even before the war, has hardly received the world’s interest, apart from the US, which used the Yemeni territory to bomb Al-Qaeda targets. Though the Mandeb Strait, where Aden is located, is ranked as the world’s 4th most important passage for oil trade, Yemen itself is a very small scale oil producer. Before the war broke, Yemen produced almost half-a-barrel oil per day, and post-war, it’s managing to produce only 130,000 barrels a day.

However, Yemen is the best producer of world’s most expensive honey and the honey produced there can sell for almost $450/day. But well, ever heard anyone going to war over honey?

FROM TRIBAL CLASH TO INTERNATIONAL WAR

Just as Syria, Yemen war is also an outcome of the struggle for power and supremacy. Like Syria, Yemen war was also an unplanned one and grew from a local, tribal clash to international conflict, not because of its strategic importance but because it provided a war field for two international rivals–Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Yemen war could be best described as a clash between the powerful, affluent Hadi regime and the downtrodden Zaidi sect to which the Houthis belong. In short, a clash between the Shia and Sunni sect. But once Saudis got involved with its air strike, the focus completely shifted to a clash between Iran and Saudi Arabia, complicating the war more.

However, unlike Syria, neither is there any direct “good guys vs bad guys” tale to tell in Yemen nor are the superpowers like the US, Russia or the European countries have been dragged or held accountable for it.

Also, since the main villain here seems to be an important American ally, there are no cameras present to shoot the Yemeni atrocities.

THE “INNOCENT” SAUDIS

Saudi Arabia raised a hue and cry in August when a UN report held the Saudi-coalition responsible for killing 60 per cent children in Yemen. However, Saudi Arabia falsified the report and demanded it to be re-examined. UN secretary Ban Ki-Moon reportedly admitted that he was “compelled” to remove the Arab coalition from the list to save the thousands of kids who depend on the UN assistance and would suffer if the Arab countries freeze their funding.

A New York Times editorial stated that “There’s an American imprint on every civilian life lost in Yemen.” This comes as a hard criticism for the American administration, especially when its interest in totally unclear. Unless it wants to have Saudi’s back against Iranian power or maybe wants to please the Arabs enough so as to stop them from signing a nuclear accord with Iran.

ZERO DIPLOMATIC SOLUTION

While the conflict is entering its third year in Yemen, no diplomatic effort seems to have brokered a solution. While the Houthis continue to run the government apparatuses, their rival “the legal government” (fondly called by the Saudis) have time and again declared victories at the battlefield.

The parties have been negotiating in Kuwait, the session always abrupted angrily till August 6 when the talks were completely disbanded.

Though the Omani, US, Russian, Iran and UN proposals demanded the Houthis to withdraw from Sana’a and return the weapon they plundered from the Yemeni Army, the Houthis aren’t in the slightest mood of giving up without obtaining the power they have been struggling for and without putting an end to Saudi airstrikes.

Meanwhile, though Saudi seems to have faced huge economic loss and hard criticism within the kingdom itself, it doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to hold its fire.

Hence, with the absence international intervention and the world media giving a skip to it, the Yemen war seems to go barely noticed, just like the ones in Congo and Gaza.

P.S: Though Yemen is not trending like Aleppo, the piece is written as every life matters and also because the writer hopes that the world would notice Yemen before its too late.