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OFF THE RADAR Yemen is experiencing a serious humanitarian crisis that deserves more media attention – and action. By Dale Sprusansky Yemen is experiencing a severe and growing humanitarian crisis — and at a particularly inopportune time. News coverage of the Middle East has been dominated by political developments in post-uprising countries, the Iran-Israel nuclear standoff, and the plight of the war-torn Syrian people. When Yemen is discussed in the media, coverage typically focuses on the US drone war or the country's own political transition. While world leaders are aware of Yemen's crisis, the global financial meltdown has left governments with little extra money to send Yemen's way. And the crisis facing the country on the southwestern Arabian Peninsula is daunting. Aid agencies estimate that at least half of Yemen's 25 million people are facing starvation, with water becoming a scarce and expensive commodity in the Arab world's poorest nation. Experts warn that Sana'a, the nation's capital and largest city, could run out of water by 2020. The situation facing Yemen's children is even bleaker. UNICEF estimates that 58% of Yemeni children under the age of 5 are physically and intellectually stunted. (Only Afghanistan has a larger percentage of stunted children.) Science tells us that after two years, the effects of stunting in young children are irreversible. This means that half of Yemen's youngest generation — the generation tasked with solidifying the gains of Yemen's democratic uprising — could potentially be mentally and physically underdeveloped. Nearly 40% of Yemen's children lack access to adequate drinking water and sanitation. "There is an urgent need for immediate action to aid the 13 million children who make up more than half of the population," said UNICEF representative Geert Cappelaere in a May 25 press release put out by the relief agency. While Yemen's humanitarian crisis has been developing for years, recent political turmoil has caused the situation to worsen considerably. The ouster of long-time President Ali Abdullah Saleh, the growing presence of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) in the south, and the continued al-Houthi insurgency in the northwest have put an overwhelming strain on the resources of an already struggling state. "The political crisis did not cause the humanitarian crisis, but only was…a catalyst," explained Mohammed Qazilbash, Yemen country director for Mercy Corps, at an Aug. 29 Atlantic Council event in Washington, DC. Because the Yemeni government lacks the resources to combat the crisis within its borders, it is reliant on the support of the international community. In early September, Yemen's Planning and International Cooperation Minister Mohammed al-Saadi said that the country can afford only about 20% of the amount needed to combat the humanitarian crisis. "Our needs are $14 billion," he said. "The Yemeni government can cover some part, but there remains a gap of $11 billion." The government "urgently needs to spend $4.7 billion on serious humanitarian needs by February [2013]," he added. At a Sept. 4-5 donors' conference in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, the international community took an important step in securing assistance for Yemen. According to the World Bank, a total of $6.4 billion was pledged to Yemen at the two-day conference. "The total number is $6.396 billion, to fund the short term and portions of the long term," said Inger Andersen, World Bank vice president for the Middle East and North Africa. Saudi Arabia's pledge of $3.25 billion was by far the largest. The U.S. pledged $846 million, Britain $311 million, and the EU $214 million. On Sept. 27, during the annual meeting of the UN General Assembly, the international community pledged an additional $1.46 billion to Yemen at a "Friends of Yemen" donors conference in New York City. While the pledges are a positive development for Yemen, it is important to note that not all of the money donated will be used to alleviate the country's humanitarian crisis. For instance, only $117 million of the $345 million the US is providing this year will go toward "security, humanitarian and development assistance," USAID administrator Rajiv Shah said. Aware of this reality, Joy Singhal, manager of Oxfam's humanitarian response in Yemen, is hesitant to call the conferences a success. During an interview with Voice of America's Middle East Voices Web site, he offered words of caution: "We do not know where that money is going to be spent, we do not know when that money is going to arrive, and we don't know how much of that money is going to be spent on humanitarian needs." Perhaps the cruelest irony of Yemen's crisis is that the country is not experiencing a food shortage. While (mostly imported) food is available, the people of Yemen simply cannot afford it. Depending on the commodity, the price of food has risen 25% to 38% in the past year. In a country where unemployment is high and, according to the World Food Programme, 45% of people live below the poverty line, such high inflation spells disaster. "People cannot afford to buy basic staples," Qazilbash lamented. Unlike food, water is anything but abundant in Yemen. As the country's population rapidly grows, Yemen's aquifers are drying up. Unlike its wealthy Gulf neighbors, Yemen cannot afford to build desalination plants along its coastline. According to Fatima Asrar, economic and commercial attaché at the Yemeni Embassy in Washington, DC, many families are now buying tankers of water at the costly price of 30,000 riyal (approximately $140). Given that the average Yemeni earns $100 to $200 a month, the high price of water means that families have little money left over to purchase food, medicine and other necessities. Worse yet, a disturbingly high percentage of the country's water is used to satisfy the starving nation's addiction to qat, a non-nutritional narcotic leaf. Yemen's Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation estimates that 40% of the nation's water is used to grow the narcotic. Yemenis spend an estimated 10% of their income on qat. In a nation that cannot afford to waste water and with a population that cannot afford to waste a penny, the addiction to qat continues to exacerbate the humanitarian crisis. As the crisis worsens, Yemen's tribal system — which has until recently served as a rare source of peace and stability — is beginning to crumble. Yemeni activist Nadwa Al-Dawsari, a senior adviser with Partners for Democratic Change who has worked extensively in Yemen's tribal areas, has witnessed this recent change. Speaking at the Aug. 29 Atlantic Council event, she opined that Yemen's "tribal system is rapidly deteriorating in an alarming way" due to food insecurity. Al-Dawsari fears that if the traditional tribal system collapses, Yemen, long teetering on the edge of becoming a "failed state," also will collapse. Al-Dawsari's concerns are certainly well founded. With unemployment rates skyrocketing, the country's large youth population is more susceptible to the message of AQAP and other rebel groups. "Terrorism is growing in a climate of poverty and unemployment," lamented Yemeni President Abd Raboo Mansur al-Hadi, speaking at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC on Sept. 28. Indeed, in recent months, young people have conducted several attacks on oil pipelines and electricity towers. According to Al-Dawsari, Yemen has spent a precious $42 million repairing destroyed electricity towers. She also estimated that Yemen has lost $1.7 billion in oil revenue due to conflict-related disruptions. While a significant boon to its economy would greatly enhance the Yemeni government's ability to combat the humanitarian crisis, the outlook is bleak. The World Bank estimates that the country's oil and gas supply — which accounts for 90% of the nation's exports — could run out by 2017. The World Food Programme points out that the resulting increased fuel prices will raise the cost of food even more due to the fact that most of Yemen's food is imported. In the short term, it is easy to see why those who work extensively on the ground in Yemen have little optimism. Qazilbash predicted that the humanitarian crisis "is not going to go away anytime soon." Indeed, for Yemen to emerge from its crisis will require political stability, national reconciliation, the strong and committed support of the international community, the rejuvenation of its economy, and innovative solutions to its water crisis. Realistically, this perfect storm of salvation is, unfortunately, unlikely to hit Yemen. Just as Yemen's humanitarian crisis has developed over many years, so too will the remedy take many years. If Yemen is to overcome its current crisis, the international community must make the country a top global priority. Short-term humanitarian relief and a long-term economic vision must be the backbone of the global approach. Unfortunately, as the crisis struggles to garner the attention of the media, it is unlikely politicians will feel the political pressure to act in a more proactive and urgent manner. In many ways, Yemen's humanitarian crisis is an indictment of the modern world. Governments can generate billions of dollars in "special money" for unaffordable wars of choice, presidential campaigns are able to raise over a billion dollars to spread lies and fear, but Washington can muster only a few extra million dollars to combat starvation. At a time when the US needs to demonstrate its good will to the Arab world, Yemen could serve as a precious opportunity. To the extreme detriment of the Yemeni people, however, it's an opportunity that likely will be lost. – Third World Network Features. -ends-
The above article is reproduced from the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, November/December 2012. When reproducing this feature, please credit Third World Network Features and (if applicable) the cooperating magazine or agency involved in the article, and give the byline. Please send us cuttings. And if reproduced on the internet, please send the web link where the article appears to twnet@po.jaring.my. 3900/12
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