Coronavirus: the war-hindered pandemic in Yemen

Text by: Oriane Verdier Follow

Saudi Arabia and the United Nations are organizing a donor conference for Yemen on Tuesday June 2. Last week, the United Nations issued an alert to raise funds urgently. The aim is in particular to combat the spread of the coronavirus alongside other diseases.

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Yemen is not immune to the virus. The Covid-19 is currently spreading in a country ravaged by more than five years of war. The population has already suffered from numerous epidemics. In addition to Covid-19, other diseases such as cholera, dengue and chikungunya continue to plague families weakened by malnutrition and poverty. The spread of these diseases was amplified by major flooding last April when the health system was in ruins.

“  I contracted chikungunya 10 days ago. It is a very serious disease that affects the lungs. I have not found any doctor who can treat me, testifies Najibah Najar. This active member of civil society lives in Aden in the south of the country. She finally turned to social media for help. “  So I was able to reach a doctor who gave me medicine. But I have access to social networks, I have the means to manage. This is not the case for everyone. The hospitals are all closed, there are only two private hospitals that manage the cases of Covid-19 but they completely ignore other illnesses.  "

Many humanitarian actors have alerted in recent weeks about the spread of the coronavirus in the country, claiming to see concrete signs and the death toll multiply, but no exact data is available. Some accuse the different actors of the conflict of stifling the health reality to give an impression of control. This vagueness only complicates the organization of the fight against the Covid-19.

"  We are doing what we can to help the authorities in northern and southern Yemen to allow them to improve their hospital capacity," explains Lise Grande, the United Nations humanitarian coordinator in the country. But we need to analyze who needs help, who will be a good partner, to be sure that help will reach those who need it most, no matter who they are or who they support politically. In a war context, such a terrible and devastating war is a real challenge.  "

These difficulties in the delivery of international aid to the beneficiary are not new, even if they are even more salient at the time of Covid-19. The United Nations launched a red flag last week, calling for the mobilization of donors invited to the conference on Tuesday, June 2.

Even before the epidemic, the boxes were already empty. "  Of the 41 main United Nations programs, 31 are either already closed or about to be closed," specifies Lise Grande. If we do not receive the funding we have requested, health centers will be closed, water sanitation programs will be closed.  The United Nations also participated in the remuneration of health workers who, like many civil servants, no longer receive their Yemeni salary. A week before the announcement of the first Covid-19 case, the UN announced that it was forced to end its cash payments for lack of resources.

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An emergency humanitarian response is not enough

Among the donors is Saudi Arabia, organizer of the current collection but also an actor in the conflict since it supports the loyalist forces of President Mansour Hadi. This double cap symbolizes the hypocrisy of the situation in the eyes of Radhya al-Mutawakel. For this Yemeni human rights activist based in Sanaa, Riyadh could do much more. A humanitarian emergency response only makes sense to him if real political efforts are made to stop the war. "  The situation has gotten worse with the Covid-19, but no actor in the conflict has really tried to end it, " she accuses. There are always a lot of clashes at different levels. It is not only an intra-Yemeni conflict. It is also a proxy war between Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. On another level, it is a very tough competition between the Saudis and the Emiris. Today's clashes in the South are between forces loyal to Saudi Arabia and those loyal to the United Arab Emirates.  "

Indeed, on the ground, the number of opposing entities has increased in recent months. For the past five years, Iranian-backed Houthi rebel forces (in the North) have opposed opposition forces loyal to President Hadi supported by the Saudi-led coalition (in the South). But at the end of April last, the separatist forces of the Southern Transition Council declared autonomy for a part of the south of the country , thus breaking their alliance with government forces. Faced with this new division, Yemen is moving a little further from a hypothetical peace agreement.

"  There is a general agreement on the constitution of a transitional government of which the Houthis would control a certain percentage," recalls Elana Delozier, a specialist in Yemen at the research center of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. But recently, what has changed things a bit is that the Houthis have made military advances. They conquered territories, which gave them an additional influence which displeases the other actors. And in the South, of course, the conflict between the Hadi government and the Southern Transition Council does nothing. This creates a division in the coalition which is supposed to be united against the Houthis.  "

While the political and military divisions continue, the inhabitants denounce them, an economic situation which plunges the country a little more each day in the doldrums. The prices of basic necessities have soared. Demonstrations demanding wages and access to water and electricity are systematically suppressed.

► Listen: Yemen: Aden's separatist temptation

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• Coronavirus
• Yemen
• Saudi Arabia

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