Daily Times

It seems it’s not enough that Yemen is one of the world’s poorest countries. Nor that it’s home to the worst ever humanitarian crisis. For a new battlefront has opened up; meaning that there are now three factions actively fighting it out for control of this poverty-stricken land. These are: the so-called Houthi rebels in the north; the internationally recognised government of President Hadi; and the southern separatists.

And it is the latter that hit the headlines with its recent capture of Aden, thereby signalling a breaking away from the uneasy alliance with the ruling regime. Indeed, the ensuing violence since Sunday has left 38 killed and 222 wounded; prompting Save the Children to suspend operations. The separatists, who are loyal to the Southern Transitional Council, have given marching orders to the Prime Minister and his entire cabinet who remain holed up in the presidential palace. While President Hadi has been safely tucked away in Riyadh since 2015.

The fear, say international experts, is that Yemen will either implode or be partitioned. Especially given that Saudi Arabia and regional ally UAE appear to have suddenly switched sides; with the latter now supporting the southern separatists. Nevertheless, according to some on the ground this is likely nothing more than a cosmetic fissure.

Meaning that this could be an orchestrated manoeuvre between the two sides to effectively rally all the troops to give a final push to the Houthi in the north. And, in return, the big boys of the region might go back to the future of 1990 and throw their weight behind an independent state let in the south. As an added bonus, a partitioned Yemen may serve to dilute Iranian influence in that country and beyond. Nevertheless, the point remains: if there were profound divisions in the Saudi-Emirati alliance — the two would likely not have at the end of last month pledged to jointly donate $1billion in aid to the Yemeni humanitarian crisis of their own making. A move that was duly welcomed by a world body so desperate for funds that it will readily accept blood money.

The concern for the international community must remain this: how will it help the Yemeni people to have one of the poorest nations become two? We raise this in spite of respecting the universal right to self-determination simply because the Arab coalition, armed with the most sophisticated American weapons that money can buy, has over the last three years decimated an entire society. While much of the world stood idly by; and those that didn’t were actively manoeuvring behind-the-scenes.

The people of Yemen deserve better than being a precedent for a new world disorder.  *

Published in Daily Times, February 2^nd 2018.