Yemen: one in eight people displaced in increasingly violent conflict
Sam Saleh Abdullah, a Yemeni soldier, seriously injured and hospitalized in Marib hospital, June 21, 2021. AP - Nariman El-Mofty
Text by: Murielle Paradon Follow
3 min
After seven years of conflict, fighting is still intense in Yemen.
More than 140 rebels and members of pro-government forces have been killed this week in fighting around the town of Marib, the last government stronghold in northern Yemen, held by Houthi rebels.
Murielle Paradon met Jean-Nicolas Beuze, representative in Yemen of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
She asked him what the consequences of these fighting were on the civilian population.
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Right now, a
military offensive by the Houthis
is seen on the ground
on Marib
, a town near the oil fields. There is really an upsurge in the intensity of the conflict, and therefore an upsurge in population movements, casualties and civilian deaths due to this offensive. Children walk on anti-personnel mines, people are victims of stray bullets, houses are destroyed by bombardments. One in eight people have been displaced by the conflict. Every day, every week, people are forced to flee the front lines to seek refuge in other parts of Yemen. Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR representative in Yemen, answers RFI's questions.
Recently, on September 18, the Houthis executed nine people suspected of murdering one of their own. This was denounced by the Secretary General of the United Nations. Do these violent drifts worry you
?
What we are seeing more and more is a restriction of freedoms for certain groups such as women, in North Yemen (held by the Houthis, Editor's note). Women have less and less access to public space. When we know that many displaced families are made up of war widows who support entire families, we wonder how they can survive, because they have no access to any means of subsistence. They cannot go to the market to buy food because they absolutely have to be accompanied by a man. And for these women, the assistance of an agency like the UNHCR is essential. This is their line of survival.
On Wednesday September 22, on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the United States and the European Union announced more than $ 400 million in additional aid for Yemen. But last March, the UN had struggled to mobilize and had collected only half of the $ 3.85 billion requested. What consequences does this drop in aid have on the Yemeni population
?
Having received between 50% and 60% of the funding needed to meet the needs means that when you have to assist ten families fleeing the conflict, you will be able to help five or six.
The remaining four or five families will have to manage to survive, to buy food and put a roof over their heads.
This is dramatic because it means that half of the population will not receive aid, while we know that two thirds of Yemenis need humanitarian assistance to survive on a daily basis.
The United Nations has engaged in peace talks. UN envoy Martin Griffiths left office in June after three years on failure. A replacement has been appointed. Where are we today?
Peace talks are very complicated in a situation like Yemen.
There is an international dimension with an international coalition led by Saudi Arabia which is at war with the Houthis who have taken control of the north of the country, in Sana'a.
But there is also a national dimension, where the Houthis are in conflict with several entities in the south: the legitimate government and the Transitional Council of the South which demands independence.
So there are several levels in this conflict, including a tribal dimension.
So making peace under these conditions is very difficult, because it means bringing many interlocutors back to the negotiating table.
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