U.K Foreign Secretary visits Yemen

Britain’s Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt visited Yemen’s port city of Aden as part of a regional tour and urged parties in the nation’s four-year conflict to make greater efforts in order to secure a lasting peace.

Background

The Republic of Yemen is a country at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula in Western Asia. Yemen is the second-largest Arab sovereign state in the peninsula, occupying 527,970 square kilometres. The country has a coastline that stretches for about 2,000 kilometres. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, the Gulf of Aden and Guardafui Channel to the south, and the Arabian Sea and Oman to the east. Yemen's territory includes more than 200 islands.

The Yemeni Civil War is an ongoing conflict that began in 2015 between two factions: the internationally recognized Yemeni government, led by Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, and the Houthi armed movement, along with their supporters and allies. Both claim to constitute the official government of Yemen. Houthi forces controlling the capital Sana'a, allied with forces loyal to the former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have clashed with forces loyal to the government of Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, based in Aden.

Analysis

Jeremy Hunt, Foreign Secretary of the U.K, met with Yemen’s Interior Minister, Ahmed Al-Maysari on March 3, in an effort to consolidate peace between parties in the ongoing Civil War. The minister also met with the Deputy Prime Minister Ahmed Saeed Al Khanbashi and Foreign Minister Khaled Al Yamani, as well as aid workers. 

With regard to the ongoing civil war in Yemen, Hunt stated that it was the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. He urged both parties to follow through on the agreed peace terms that were made in December. The secretary has also met with the President, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel Salem in Muscat, Oman. 

The Houthi movement attracts its Zaidi-Shia followers in Yemen by promoting regional political-religious issues in its media, including the overarching US-Israeli conspiracy and Arab "collusion". The conflict between the Houthi rebels and the Yemeni government, seen as a proxy battle for regional influence between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran, has ravaged a country already struggling with deep poverty and dysfunction. Thousands of civilians have been killed with millions more either fleeing or forced from their homes.

In a report last year, the United Nations has stated that majority of Yemeni civilians were food insecure. The country that depends heavily on imports for its food supplies is hunger stricken due to the blockage of naval shipments to the ports of Hodeidah and Salif. The blocks are controlled by the Saudi-led government causing a shortage of resources in the Houthi controlled areas.

Jeremy Hunt is the first Foreign Minister to visit the country since 1996. The purpose of his tour was to show support for the Yemeni government as well as the United Nations efforts to secure peace. “People in Yemen are on the brink of starvation and none of the parties really want a return to hostilities -- so now is the time to take a deep breath, put aside the anger and mistrust after four years of terrible fighting and take the risks that are always necessary at the start of any peace process,” Hunt said in the statement.

An epidemic outbreak of Cholera has also plagued the country since April 2017 causing the death of over 1.2 million people. A third wave of infections began last summer due to unsanitary conditions and lack of clean water. The water treatment plants in the country haven’t been able to sanitize the water due to shortage of fuel caused the import blockades.

Assessment

Our assessment is that the ceasefire that was agreed upon between the Houthis and the Yemeni Government in December could be implemented over the next few weeks. It is critical for both the parties to end the war as it has already caused massive damage to the country.