Thursday, September 27, 2012

More Action, Less Talk on Yemen Food Crisis


Yemen is considered one of the poorest, least developed countries in the world, ranking at 154 out of 187 countries on the 2011 UNDP Human Development Index. It is currently facing a challenging period of political transition following a 10-month conflict ending former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s 33-year rule.

According to the World Food Program over five million people – 22 percent of the Yemeni population – were severely food insecure and unable to produce or buy the food they needed, an 87 percent increase from the 2009 CFSS (Comprehensive Food Security Survey) report. In addition, another five million people are moderately food insecure and at risk of becoming severely food insecure due to the rise in food and fuel prices, amid ongoing civil unrest. In total, around 10 million people in Yemen are food insecure – 44.5 percent of the population – and have limited or no access to sufficient, nutritious food, and are eating a poor or borderline diet according to international health standards.  


UNICEF has warned that children in Yemen are the most affected by the food crisis. Yemen has the second highest rate of chronic malnutrition in the world, behind Afghanistan. 58 percent of Yemen’s children under the age of five are stunted by malnutrition.  "In Yemen, there are over 250,000 children who suffer from severe, acute malnutrition, which means they could die very soon. This is almost as many as there were in Somalia during the height of the crisis last year," said UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake, while touring a hospital in a recent visit to Yemen.
Colette Fearon, Oxfam’s Country Director in Yemen, said: “Yemen is dealing with a catastrophic food crisis and people really need our help. People are getting into worrying levels of debt just to get food for their families – and surviving on a meager diet of tea and bread.’
Yemen, now more than ever, is facing an intensifying inter-related political and humanitarian crisis. The humanitarian condition in Yemen is deteriorating further also due to the internal displacement of over 500,000 people and the significant influx of refugees to Yemen via the Red Sea, despite its unstable condition. Based on UNCHR’s August 2012 Fact Sheet a total of 227,266 refugees are currently in Yemen.
Yemen’s planning and international cooperation minister, Mohammed Al-Saadi told donors the national unity government needed $11.9 billion in the short term, yet donors only pledged $6.4 billion in the last meeting held on 3 September 2012 in Riyadh. Saudi Arabia pledged $3.25 billion, including a $1 billion loan to Yemen’s Central Bank, the US said it would provide $345 million for security, humanitarian and development assistance to Yemen; of that $117 million is for humanitarian assistance. The UK pledged to donate $317 million.
The need for foreign aid is a vital necessity in Yemen based on the above-mentioned facts. However, Yemeni activists are skeptical in regards to foreign donations. Some worry that it creates a pattern of dependency. Safa Mubgar, a member of the Independent Yemen Group, said in response “to those who fear aid-dependency, I agree; but the man has to survive long enough to be taught to fish. He needs a fish to eat today.”

Certainly emergency aid and short-term solutions are not the best remedy to Yemen’s problems, but they are urgently needed now to counter the humanitarian crisis. Yet, long term development planning and investment projects, which create job opportunities, generate income, and boost Yemen’s economy is what is needed to move away from aid dependency.

Others doubt any of the funds will actually reach the intended beneficiaries, and believe it is more likely to end up in the accounts of corrupt Yemeni officials. Joy Singhal, manager of Oxfam’s humanitarian response in Yemen in an interview also reiterated the concern that the money will not actually reach those in need. “I would just like to put a word of caution there, because 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 which are most critical right now,” he said.

While 10 million people go hungry daily, there are people who deny or are unaware that a crisis exists, sadly in Yemen too. In addition foreign donors are also reluctant to pour any funds into Yemen due to the fragile security condition and the high corruption rate.

These concerns were addressed in the last meeting in Riyadh as pointed by Wael Zakout, World Bank Country Manager for Yemen, who outlined the commitments made by the government and the international community to ensure that the aid reaches “quickly, transparently, and efficiently.” He adds “in addition to the pledges, the meeting endorsed the Mutual Accountability Framework (MAF) that outlines the commitments of both Yemen’s Government of National Reconciliation and the donor community during the transition period”… “The government has committed to take the necessary steps to investigate high level officials who are involved in corruption and is committed now to establish a special court to accelerate the prosecution of corruption cases and ensure that those convicted serve their sentences.”

On September 27, the Friends of Yemen group – chaired by the UK and Saudi Arabia – are meeting again in New York to discuss the situation in Yemen. In solidarity with the people of Yemen, Awssan Kamal a Yemeni activist and member of the Yemen Development and Relief Forum (YRDF) spearheaded the launch of the “Hungry for Yemen” campaign. The campaign was endorsed by The Yemen Peace Project , Independent Yemen Group, Yemen Relief & Development Forum and The Yemeni American Coalition for Change and other international non-governmental organizations and independent activists. It aims to encourage people to either fast or skip lunch on the 27th in order to raise awareness of the dire humanitarian situation 10 million Yemenis face everyday. The campaign is also targeted at UK Foreign Secretary William Hague and Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal as co-chairs of the Friends of Yemen meeting in addition to the US, EU and UN, urging them and other world leaders to prioritize immediate and sufficient funding of the UN’s appeal for Yemen’s emergency needs. The United Nations Humanitarian Plan for Yemen requires $585 million to provide necessary assistance and is currently $304 million short from the required funds.

While world leaders will be discussing Yemen’s long and short term goals in the upcoming Friends of Yemen meeting, the International aid agencies working in Yemen have stressed that the humanitarian emergency relief must be on the top of their agenda. There are also some local organizations such as Hemat Shabab who have been working to feed hungry families in Yemen, yet their work is limited and they also lack proper funding. The Yemeni civil society have also echoed that the humanitarian crisis is derailing the transition process and should be the key to any funding for Yemen, in their last civil society meeting held in Riyadh, and so has the Yemeni diaspora by organizing the “Hungry for Change” campaign.



What Yemen needs mostly now from the International Community are actions not promises, and food not just pledges. Donors must respond now before the crisis deepens further. The significant funds pledged at the Friends of Yemen meetings for Yemen’s security and stability need to be turned into humanitarian aid immediately to keep people alive and save Yemen’s future generation. There can never be any stability nor safety in Yemen when 44% of the population are facing hunger daily and their main concern is to find food for themselves and their family. People in Yemen are depending on the humanitarian support of the International Community to address the pressing needs on the ground and equally important in providing solutions that would break the hunger cycle, such as development and investment projects, youth training and employment programs and empowering local communities through revenue generating projects.

Sunday, September 9, 2012

Why US Drone Attacks Should Stop in Yemen and Elsewhere!


Both the International law and US constitution prohibit killing outside of armed conflict without due process, "except as a resort to avert a concerete, specific, imminent threat of death or serious physical injury", yet the United States continues the use of drone strikes in "targeted killings" of "suspected" terrorist overseas that "might" be plotting against it without due process of law. This has caused the unaccounted deaths of hundreds in Yemen, Somalia and Pakistan and widespread anger.

The first known US drone strike approved by Obama in Yemen was in Ma’jalah, Abyan, on 17 December 2009, killing 41 local residents, including 14 women and 21 children, and 14 militants ــ alleged  Al Qaeda members ــ only one of which was confirmed to be connected to Al Qaeda. A Yemeni investigative journalist remains in prison until today for "un-covering" this story. 


A policy shift, approved in April 2012, allowed the C.I.A. and the military’s Joint Special Operations Command to strike militants in Yemen who may be plotting attacks against the United States, without necessarily knowing their identities. Thus, both the the CIA and Pentagon have been carrying drone strikes in Yemen and have separate kill lists of unconfirmed "suspects". According to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism 116 drone strikes have been carried out in in Yemen since May 2011, of those attacks only 39 were confirmed by officials to be carried out by the United States. Hence, hundreds of deaths by drone strikes are unaddressed, unacknowledged and unaccounted for and many of those killed were not confirmed to be actual militants.


This year alone there have been more than 200 deaths from the strikes in Yemen. Last week a misdirected U.S drone strike killed 13 civilians, including 3 women (one of them reportedly a 10 year old girl) causing widespread anger among Yemenis as have many other strikes before.  Yemenis have protested against the strikes and so have activists on twitter who launched a #NoDrones campaign in May 2012 to express their anger towards the strikes and to demand the U.S administration to halt them. They have renewed their campaign against U.S drone strikes using the same hashtag #NoDrones.

Yemenis hold both the U.S administration and Yemeni government accountable for the loss of the civilian lives, a.k.a "collateral damage" and the killings of "suspected" militants without any proof or fair trials. Both are partners in these unlawful attacks, the former for justifying and executing the strikes and the latter for allowing them to do so.


This is what Obama said defending drone strikes:


This is what 27 leading experts in foreign policy, diplomats, security specialists, scholars, and U.S policy experts, calling for a broader approach on U.S policy towards Yemen, recommended in their letter to President Obama:
  • Change the primary face of the U.S government in Yemen to alter the perception that U.S interest and attention are solely dominated by counterterrorism and security issues.
  • Reevaluate the strategy of drone strikes with the recognition that it is generating significant anti-American sentiment.
  • Work with Friends of Yemen to provide humanitarian aid for the more than 10 million Yemenis going hungry daily.
  • Increase economic and governance aid to support democratic institution-building, so that it represents a greater proportion of overall assistance compared with military assistance
  • Support the restructuring of Yemeni security towards a unified command hierarchy under Yemeni civilian leadership.
Robert Grenier, recently retired Director of the CIA Counter-Terrorism Center, wrote, “One wonders how many Yemenis may be moved in the future to violent extremism in reaction to carelessly targeted missile strikes, and how many Yemeni militants with strictly local agendas will become dedicated enemies of the West in response to U.S military actions against them.” 

And this is what Yemenis had to say: - “Dear Obama, when a U.S. drone missile kills a child in Yemen, the father will go to war with you, guaranteed. Nothing to do with Al Qaeda,” a Yemeni lawyer warned on Twitter
 “I will join even Satan if I have to in order to get revenge for my wounded 7 year old son,” said one angered father from Jaar who preferred to remain anonymous 
- "Indeed, the drone program is leading to the Talibanization of vast tribal areas and the radicalization of people who could otherwise be America’s allies in the fight against terrorism in Yemen," said Ibrahim Mothana, a democracy activist.  
Salim al-Barakani, a businessman who's two brothers — one a teacher, the other a cellphone repairman — were killed in a U.S. strike in March said "these attacks are making people say, ‘We believe now that al-Qaeda is on the right side.’ ” 
Mohammed al-Ahmadi, legal coordinator for Karama, a local human rights group said “every time the American attacks increase, they increase the rage of the Yemeni people, especially in al-Qaeda-controlled areas.”  
- “There is more hostility against America because the attacks have not stopped al-Qaeda, but rather they have expanded, and the tribes feel this is a violation of the country’s sovereignty,” said Anssaf Ali Mayo, Aden head of Yemen's al-Islah Islamist party. 
- "This is seen from the fact that US strikes are seen as an invasion, an occupation and a breach of sovereignty," said a citizen journalist 
- Local activist Nasr Abdullah told CNN, ‘I would not be surprised if a hundred tribesmen joined the lines of al Qaeda as a result of the latest drone mistake. This part of Yemen takes revenge very seriously.’  
- Listen to what Yemenis said in this HuffPostLive video. More had been said by Yemenis and others in this storify, and this too.  And this is what Pakistanis had to say about the U.S drone strikes:

A USAID official boasted about the U.S being the largest provider of humanitarian aid, in the last Yemen donor conference held in Riyadh. Yet, what Yemen needs most besides aid is for the drone strikes to end. There is nothing human in the use of drone strikes to "fight terrorism" in Yemen. U.S drone strikes continue to destabilize the country further, instill fear in the civilans who can be possible targets, breeds resentment towards the U.S, and increases militants in Yemen and thus terror. In fact al- Qaeda has been growing in numbers since the U.S strikes intensified in Yemen, they were estimated to be 300 members in 2009 and despite the ongoing drone strikes and constant reported killings of al- Qaeda militants and "suspected' militants, they are now reported to be more than 700, i.e  more than double the initial figure. This clearly indicates, as many experts have stressed, that the U.S counter terrorism policy in Yemen needs to be seriously examined and consequently re-evaluated. 

In summary : "U.S drones have not only resulted in death and destruction, but have also been counter productive to the counter-terrorism efforts, because with each casualty, militants groups gain more members."

Related links: Interactive Map: America's War in Yemen Drone Death in Yemen of an American Teenager  : (Birth Certificate Families of Americans Killed by Drones to File Suite :  (The Complaint) In Yemen. U.S. Airstrikes breed anger and sympathy for al-Qaeda   How Drones Help Al Qaeda US War on Yemen: Invisible Casualties US War on Yemen: The View From the Ground 29 Death in 8 Days as U.S Puts Drones On Over Drive The Failed US Policy in Yemen Dodging the drones: How militants responded to the covert US campaign It is uncertain whether America's drones have their intended effect A new analysis finds five ways drones strikes in Yemen are hurting American interests Video: How Drone Strike Help Al Qaeda Drone strikes threatens 50 years of International Law, says UN rapporteur Obama's 'kill list': Short term CT efforts undermine U.S Long-term goals  Obama's Drone Surge in Yemen Ignored at Home

Monday, September 3, 2012

When Will Yemenis Live?



After reading a couple of headlines about yet another US drone attack targeting suspected militants in Yemen yesterday, I wrote on twitter "I am sick of news of Qaeda and drones in Yemen. I wish I can be tweeting more interesting news about Yemen :(" when a tweep replied "Here in Yemen we are waiting for [a] good and interesting life, may[be] it will be soon! :-)". That reply had a profound effect on me and made me write these questions to vent my distress and frustration at the living conditions in my country.

When will Yemenis live, I mean when will the average Yemeni live?
When will he/she ever enjoy a normal life, let alone a good or interesting one?
When will Yemen ever stop being the poorest nation in the Arab World?
When will it stop having the lowest growth indexes and one of the highest illiteracy, maternal/infant mortality and malnutrition rates?
When will Yemenis have their basic needs, such as water, food, electricity, let alone their basic rights to education and health?
When will the little boys learn to read and have dreams of becoming a doctor or an engineer, instead of carrying a weapon bigger than themselves to fight wars?
When will little girls learn to write and plan their future instead of being forced to drop out of school and get married to support their family and start one of their own?
When will the western and regional powers stop viewing Yemen through the terrorist prism and aim at destroying it instead of helping us build our nation?

When will my dreams of Yemen ever come true?