Satirical Shows Lighten the Mood Amid Yemen's War

My latest on Aljazeera English.

Satirists use their platform not only to entertain the Yemeni public but also to subvert rival media narratives.

As the war grinds on, satire 'embodies the only fulfilling means of venting', says Yemeni TV host Mohammed al-Rabaa [Photo courtesy of Mohammed al-Rabaa]

Satire has become an oasis for war-fatigued Yemenis - a temporary escape from the gruelling realities of life in a combat zone. "I think things have been so suffocating in Yemen that satire today embodies the only fulfilling means of venting," Yemeni TV host Mohammed al-Rabaa told Al Jazeera.


Rabaa is one of the most popular political satirists in Yemen, having made his breakthrough during Yemen's 2011 uprising with an amateur video (see below) satirising a local politician. He attributes the popularity of satire to "its ability to speak far more to the Yemeni audience than traditional news media".




Even though the uprising presented new opportunities for political satire in Yemen, the genre is not new in the country. In the 1950s, Abdullah Abdulwahab Noman launched the al-Fudhool satirical newspaper in the port city of Aden, providing a platform for satirical takes on current events. Issued every two weeks, the paper tackled everything from corruption to food insecurity, including a piece featuring a starving TV presenter who almost fainted while asking viewers to donate food.

In the 1950s, Abdullah Abdulwahab Noman launched the al-Fudhool satirical newspaper.

In the ensuing years, satirists continued to parody their political leaders via song and on radio shows. The 1980s saw the launch of the famous satirical radio show Basmah (A Smile) on Sanaa State Radio. Established by the late Yemeni journalist Mohammed al-Mahbshi and journalist Ali al-Sayani, it airs each Ramadan and is re-run at other times throughout the year, satirising issues of corruption in the country.

Under former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, Basmah satirised the lack of democratic elections in Yemen; today, it takes aim at the Saudi-led coalition and the government of Yemen's president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The station on which it airs was taken over by Houthi rebels in September 2014.

"Since its creation in 1982, Basmah broke the mould and was certainly one of a kind," Suad al-Wisy, a host at Sanaa State Radio, told Al Jazeera. "Today, it reflects the concerns and frustrations many feel in Sanaa, regardless of which authority carries the radio. However, I think the show doesn't enjoy the same listenership it used to have, as there is a rise of many other radio channels attracting our audience."

Yemen's satirical landscape is heavily infused with partisan and sectarian overtones. Satirists use their platform not only to entertain but also to subvert rival media narratives.

Bahashwan, who began as a social satirist, shifted his focus to political satire as the Houthis began their armed fight in Aden in early 2015.

Aden-born Karam Bahashwan, who began his career as a satirist via YouTube in 2013 in Aden, today hosts a weekly show called Wala Nakhs (Shut Up) that is broadcast into Yemen from Istanbul, Turkey, on the Belqees television channel, well known for its anti-Houthi/anti-Saleh reporting.

Bahashwan, who began as a social satirist, shifted his focus to political satire as the Houthis began their armed fight in Aden in early 2015. "In that violent and intense political situation, one can't help but shift to politics. I realised that the main source of all of Yemen's problems was political," Bahashwan told Al Jazeera, noting that he hopes his show can bring laughter to the public, while also raising their political awareness.

Satirising Hadi's government and the Saudi-led coalition is a primary focus for Abdel Hafez Moujab, who hosts a daily programme on al-Sahat TV channel, presenting a counter-narrative to pro-Hadi shows. His programme, Maa al-Akhbar (With the News) airs from Lebanon. 

Satire is 'a useful way to expose lies, especially in light of the Yemen war and the media misinformation', says Abdel Hafez Moujab [Photo courtesy of Abdel Hafez Moujab]

"After many years in journalism, I chose political satire eventually. I found it a useful way to expose lies, especially in light of the Yemen war and the media misinformation," Moujab told Al Jazeera. "I aspire to offer a more truthful depiction through my simplicity and cynicism in analysing the news. I think my political humour brings the viewer closer to current events, and it grabs their attention more than the traditional media."

With Yemen ranked one of the most dangerous places for media groups to operate, many such shows are being hosted outside the country. "Media groups can't work inside the country freely, while there are increasing attacks against the press," Ahmed al-Zurqa, an Istanbul-based Yemeni journalist, told Al Jazeera, noting that various media outlets within Yemen have come under the control of different armed groups. "It's an extremely hostile situation for media."

Meanwhile, anti-Houthi satirist Mohammed al-Athroui - regarded by many Yemenis as a pioneer in the country's political satire scene, having sung satirical songs on television since the 1990s, such as Toz (Whatever) and Ham Shaab (A Nation's Concern) - has continued his work throughout the war. His show Ghagha (Cacophony), which airs long-prepared episodes every Ramadan on the Islamist Party Islah's television channel, is broadcast from Saudi Arabia, as the channel's official offices were looted by the Houthis in 2015.

Ghagha includes sketches and songs that heavily mock Shia scholars (watch below), prompting fierce criticism from pro-Houthi media outlets. "I respect our religion and all sects, and I don't aim to insult anyone, but [rather] to uncover some of the Houthis' fictitious tales," Athroui told Al Jazeera. The dangers of his work are clear: A pro-Houthi judge in Sanaa recently issued a statement on Facebook advocating Athroui's death "for his deliberate and repeated insults" against prominent Shia religious figures. "I am not scared; in fact, I am certain now that my show is very influential," Athroui maintained.




Rabaa says he has also received death threats because of his work; in one instance, his home was hit by bullets. "Over the course of Yemen's war, Houthi supporters have tried to abduct my sister, attacked my brother and confiscated my house in Amran," he said.

After more than two years of war, Yemen is now in the midst of a massive humanitarian crisis threatening millions of lives. Despite the appalling outlook, satirical shows have found a way to lighten the mood - taking aim at everything from political oppression, to the crisis of unpaid civil-servant salaries (watch below), to the Houthis' hijacking of military institutions. Rabaa says he remains determined to forge ahead.



"Yemenis are reminded of famine, disease and devastation all the time, but they have forgotten how to smile, and that's what we try to remind them of," Rabaa said. "We don't mock our misery, but we mock those who led us to the misery."

The Saudi-led coalition's strategy in Yemen is entirely counter-productive

A poster reads "two years of aggression that achieved nothing but destruction, devastation and killing of innocents" at a protest in Sana'a, March 26th, 2017. 

*It has now been two years since the Saudi-led coalition began waging its war in Yemen against the rebel group, the Houthis.

The coalition's military operation was intended to "save the people of Yemen from a radical group (the Houthis) trying to take over the country," as expressed by Saudi Ambassador to the United States, Adel Al-Jubeir in a news conference on the day the military operation began - 26 March, 2015. So far, the coalition's military strategy has not reduced Houthi "radicalism", rather it has become completely counter-productive, and instead of weakening the Houthis, it is strengthening them.

For many Yemenis, 26 March signifies not just the beginning of all out war, but one of the chapters in the violent unrest the country has been witnessing since the 2011 uprising. Indeed, many regard September 2014 - when the Houthis stormed into the capital city, Sanaa - as a turning point in the country's chain of armed conflicts. Following the Houthis taking de-facto control of Sanaa, the general sentiment in Sanaa was one of a refusal of what the Houthis represented. One anti-Houthi protest after another crystallised into a peaceful anti-Houthi movement named "Refusal". The capital witnessed many anti-Houthi protests raising slogans, such as "no for coup" and "no to armed militias".




Yemenis' peaceful resistance was quickly interrupted by the Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, which not only ended their spirit for peaceful resistance to the Houthis, but also turned millions of Yemenis against the waning legitimacy of the government. Today, there is no room for peaceful resistance against the Houthis under the Saudi-led coalition's military operations, as Yemenis today are barely able to survive the war.

Extremist groups such as IS are the only ones to thrive in Yemen's war. Moreover, in light of the devastation, Yemenis repeatedly question how President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and his leadership could have allowed their people to slip into one of the world's most tragic humanitarian tragedies – all in the name of restoring legitimacy.

To continue the current military policy in Yemen, would be counter-productive, turning the Houthis - who Yemenis used to perceive as tyrants - into national heroes. The strength and resilience of the Houthis, and their refusal to surrender, are perceived by many Yemenis as heroism in today's harsh reality of war. Some of my own family and friends in Yemen, some as young as teenagers, are joining the Houthis in the fight against the "enemy".


To continue the war and achieve nothing but further destruction, would shatter any trust the Yemenis might have had in President Hadi, turning the Yemenis against the Saudi-led coalition. Had the situation in Yemen been dealt with more wisely, it might have been possible to avoid conflict with a militia group which has known nothing but fighting for years, and avoid getting into an unwinnable war. One might have predicted that the war could only plunge Yemen into even greater instability, and destroy the legitimacy the Saudi-led coalition is working so hard to restore.

It's now been two years since Yemen slipped into one of the world's worst humanitarian tragedies. About 20 million people are on the edge of famine and need some kind of humanitarian assistance. About 10,000 have been killed and it's very likely the death toll is higher, as many are dying of starvation and lack of medicine. The coalition's strategies such as targeting civilian areas and infrastructure, and the air and naval blockade imposed on a large part of Yemen, have all sparked a blowback reaction.

Today, people who were not previously allied with the Houthis are actually joining them in a knee-jerk response that allows them to rise up against the suffering caused by the Saudi-led coalition. With every household effected by the bombardment or the starvation tactic in the war, the Saudi-led coalition's war is actually making new enemies, and the "legitimacy" becomes less convincing by the day.


This is not to say that the coalition must abort the mission in Yemen immediately, but rather re-think its approach to the Houthi threat and find new ways eliminate its counter-productive strategy. The coalition must work more closely with the resistance movement in Yemen who can effectively confront the Houthis before it's too late, and work more seriously at containing the humanitarian crisis.

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*This op-ed piece was written for and published in The New Arab on 30 March 2017.

Yemeni President Hadi at Arab League Summit

2013. 

2017




Yemen's pres Hadi 2013 vs. 2017 at the #ArabLeagueSummit: sleep, sleep & sleep more.

Obama's abysmal track record in Yemen

Aug 2013 - President Barack Obama and Yemen's president, Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi after speaking to the media in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo courtesy/AP

*As US President-elect Donald J. Trump's win takes over the news, current US President Barack Obama's destructive legacy in Yemen must not go unnoticed. 

The Obama administration's foreign policy toward Yemen has been damaging and has largely contributed to the ongoing frenzied blood spill in the country. His policies inflicted devastating chaos on many levels in Yemen, for which the country is paying a heavy price.

In fact, Obama's record in Yemen is so dismal it even trumps his predecessor, Bush.


A failing 'War on Terror'

When Obama took office in 2009, analysts were hopeful that a realist American president would have a better vision for considering Yemen's local context, and fixing Bush's myriad failures in the global "War on Terror" in Yemen.

Bush's doctrine was characterised by his blind idealism in promoting democracy and security, and a dismissal of efforts to address the main drivers of violent extremism in Yemen. His pragmatic alliance with ousted Yemeni president, Ali Abdullah Saleh and his corrupt regime was a major failure in US policy in Yemen.

While Yemen was sliding down the ranks of the UN's Human Development Index, Saleh exploited that alliance to serve his own military interest, in the name of fighting terrorism.

In 2001, Bush's administration presented Saleh with an aid package worth up to $400 million, as part of US counter-terrorism operations, without investigating how Saleh's rule contributed to insurgents in Yemen. Bush's policies failed to comprehend Saleh's deceit in using the anti-terrorism card over advancing the social and economic growth of the country.

Former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and President George W. Bush meet in the Oval Office in 2001.

Obama's foreign policy in Yemen was in many ways an extension of Bush's. Despite his realism, it would have even more devastating consequences. Not only did Obama's approach pursue Bush's anti-terrorism strategy, he also made sure to expand the militarization strategy.

Obama's policy - like Bush's - perceived Yemen as a land of terrorism, neglecting warning calls from the country's civil society and grassroots organisations that Yemen was increasingly becoming a land of poverty, illiteracy and poor governance. This, they warned, represented the perfect conditions for terrorist groups to thrive and recruit.

Nonetheless, Obama too failed to comprehend Saleh's deceit and manipulation through the language of anti-terrorism.

Consequently, under Obama, the US doubled its security support to Yemen, to more than $150 million in 2010, including a proposed $45 million for equipping and training Yemeni special anti-terrorism forces. In spite of that, Obama's approach to Saleh's "War on Terror" was ineffective, with no real gains; it simply allowed Saleh to milk more military aid for no great significant purpose. Recent global terrorist attacks with links to Yemen are just a few examples to demonstrate that.


Worse than Bush

Part of Obama's extension of Bush's policy was the stepped up drone strikes campaign in Yemen. Under Obama, there has been a hike in drone strikes in Yemen and other countries, at nearly nine times more than the level authorised by Bush.

These drone strikes have killed more civilians than combatants - leading to growing anti-American sentiment. While clearly such a military strategy has become counter-productive, Obama's creativity reached its peak with his secret "kill-list" which included names in Yemen. Those in the worst hit areas understand that the real "terrorism" is carried out by US military jets that have been colonising Yemen's skies and terrorising innocent civilians. 

The 2011 uprising and Obama

When the 2011 uprising broke out, Obama's US policy in Yemen faced a crisis: How would the US handle losing a close ally in the War on Terror, in Saleh? It was time for Obama's realism to find new priorities in US policy in Yemen.

In parallel to his cautious endorsement of the protests, he was obsessed with silencing critical reporting of the flaws in his counter-terrorism drone strikes in Yemen. He intervened to keep a Yemeni journalist in jail, who revealed the drone strike crimes against women and children. This has exposed Obama's hypocrisy in supporting press freedom around the globe, but not in Yemen.

As the protests grew, the Obama administration had another setback in Yemen. During the 2011 uprising, Obama's foreign policy in Yemen was ill-made and was key in shaping an ill-formed model for a failing political transition.

He endorsed a power-transfer deal to Saleh, made by the Gulf Cooperation Council that guaranteed impunity to a dictatorship. This was a recipe for disaster, confirmed by the bloodbath we see in Yemen today. Nonetheless, the administration attempted to boast about their success in forging the "Yemen-model" of US counter-terrorism policy.

Obama at war in Yemen

Not long after the myth of the Yemen-model, the war broke out, pointing to the failures of US policy in Yemen. Today, Obama must be held responsible for leading the country to where it is today. He has contributed to the reckless expansion and militarization of Saleh's forces, and the co-enabling of killing through its support for the Saudi-led coalition.

Despite the calls of human rights groups to independently investigate war crimes committed in Yemen, Obama has continued to authorise arms sales to Saudi Arabia. The most outrageous truth, though, is that under Obama US-made and internationally banned cluster bombs were used by US ally, Saudi Arabia, in Yemen against civilian areas.

And yet, Obama has failed to even rhetorically address this. As remnants of bombs dropped above Yemenis' heads read made by the US, Yemenis now more than ever, believe Saudi Arabia's war is an American one, too. The slaughter of Yemeni civilians with cluster bombs might well be Obama's bloodiest legacy in Yemen.

Obama's dismal failure in Yemen reflects the failure of a realist assessment of national interests. Would Trump provide a glimmer of hope in Yemen? That remains to be seen. In the meantime, Yemenis see Obama as worse than any other American president.

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*This article was first published on NewArab.com on 18th of Nov. 

Yemen war one year on: Are peace talks doomed to fail?

*As the war in Yemen enters its second year, the previously adjourned peace talks led by the United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, are scheduled to resume in mid-April in Kuwait. The talks cannot succeed until their structure is revised and attitudes are changed on both warring sides.

During the covert and overt peace negotiations to end the conflict, both sides have shown interest in reaching a political solution while accompanying attempts for a ceasefire have been infringed on the ground with increasing brutality.

Talks in Switzerland, in Oman and then again in Switzerland failed to establish concessions for a roadmap to a political solution and a long-term ceasefire. Instead, they gave a chance for warring parties to reposition themselves in renewed fighting.

Significant problems in the talks lay in the structure of the talk process and in the warring sides' attitudes.

Flawed negotiations table

Rather than having a negotiation table that includes all parties to the conflict, previous talks focused exclusively on two parties - Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi's government and the Houthi-Ali Abdullah Saleh alliance - and failed by excluding a major party in the conflict, the Saudi-led coalition supporting Hadi.

The exclusion of the coalition camp ultimately represented an ineffective communication and contributed to the renewal of the fighting more aggressively. Over the past year, more than 6,400 people have been killed and more than 30,000 injured, and 7.6 million people are in a position of severe food insecurity, according to the UN.

It is difficult to see the possibility of productive negotiations if the Saudis don't sit around the table as well and became involved in direct communication with all the warring sides.

A previous exchange of prisoners swap and the latest one between the Houthis and the Saudis, conducted by intervening tribal men, exemplify how talks might be more productive if the two sides started talking to each other.

An important missing component in previous talks was the participation of women. Yemeni women are playing a vital role as advocates for peace-building, as affirmed by Oxfam's executive director, Winnie Byanyima, and yet they have nearly no access to the peace talks.

As a result, Yemeni women are struggling to ensure their participation at the negotiation table through a "Pact for Peace and Security" endorsed by the UN Women, the body created in 2010 as the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Conflicting attitudes

Above all, the logic of the strategies used by both sides demonstrates their different attitudes towards any prospect of peacemaking. The Saudi-led coalition's spokesperson, Brigadier General Ahmed al-Asiri, has stated that its goal is to bring a political solution to the conflict - while the military plan has never ceased.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, has reported that "the coalition is responsible for twice as many civilian casualties as all other forces put together".

On the other side, the Houthi-Saleh bloc's goal is to attain a military victory. Under such attitudes, reaching a political solution is a remote possibility.

Furthermore, the two blocs' disparate political capabilities make it difficult to foresee a political or military answer to end the fight.

The Saudis excel in politics while the political capabilities of the Houthis' are limited, but the latter have excelled in military confrontations as they had previously gained tremendous field experience during the six wars between 2004 and 2010 against the Yemeni government under the now ousted president Saleh's rule.

The idea to keep on fighting till the last drop of blood is not new to them, as fighting has become their forte.

External factors

Additionally, the role of bystanders in this conflict contributes towards slowing any peace process. Western countries such as the United States and Britain are known to be significant suppliers of arms to Saudi Arabia, and they both have kept silent over widely publicised reports about the unlawful use of weapons in Yemen (PDF).

Another bystander in the conflict is the anti-Houthi, silent majority Yemeni group, who are forced to be silent as any dissidence in regard to the Houthis is met with a serious crackdown. Tens of Yemeni journalists have been killed, jailed or forcibly disappeared under the Houthis' rule.

The conflict has caused serious human rights abuses which undermine the objective of a peaceful resolution.

With about 80 percent of Yemen's 21 million people in desperate need of assistance - a figure greater than anywhere in the globe, including Syria - and a looming famine set to ravage the country, the humanitarian situation is catastrophic.

In addition, Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula is expanding and fighters of the Islamic State group (also known as Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) are emerging.

A dangerously growing anti-US and anti-UK sentiment is also on the rise as Yemenis see the US- and UK-made weapons, including cluster bombs, being used by the coalition forces. All these factors will backfire sooner or later.

More importantly, the longer the war drags on, the more do different political and military factions appear in the country. If these factions are not taken into consideration in any negotiation table, achieving a lasting peace will be an impossible mission.

The continuation of the conflict is a recipe for an irreversible disaster. In order to find a solution to the conflict, the warring parties must address the shortcomings of previous talks and come up with a new talks structure, focusing on immediate humanitarian concerns with long-term goals that take into account the full complexity of the conflict. 

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*This op-ed was originally published on Middle East Eye, 30 March 2016. 

Who can hear Yemenis?

AS the bombings intensify in Yemen, dozens of messages from people know in person & who I don't know have been pouring into my fb & email inbox. It's almost the same message, "tell the world that the situation is unbearable in Yemen, Afrah! The killed ones had mercy from Allah, but we, the living ones are going through a slow death. Tell the world, Afrah! Nobody hears us, but you are heard, Afrah!"

Such messages made insomnia my new best friend. As I'm about to finish reading this second book about trauma, I hope I'll get back a little peace of mind & write more & more & 'tell the world' about the tragedy in my country & the agony & pain my people are going through. Until then, these sleepless nights are bombing my head & soul, & I fear I'm wasting time while I'm this paralysed & not writing enough - I should be telling the world.

You know what, it's really a fucking cruel world out there. Most of the "world" has been bought by the Saudi money; even our fucking president, Hadi was bought by the Saudis' money. Each missile & each rocket fired at Yemen is done with the blessings of that mother-fucker president. Then, how can we, poor activists & journalists & bloggers can face the Saudis' power/money/dominance/hegemony-machine? 

Forget about us the [intellectuals]! What ordinary people in Yemen & from Yemen, who are shattered around the world now, what they feel most painful is how painful it is to be neglected & abandoned, not only by the "world" but also by their own fucking president, Hadi. You know that Saudi promised to give the UN big money to address the humanitarian plight in Yemen with 1 condition that's: to be distributed in the Saudi-Hadi liberated areas only. And let the rest of the country starve to death. What kind of a moron president would allow that to happen to his own people, country?! Outrageous is an insufficient word!

Who can hear Yemenis? Who can hear their out-cries? Who can save Yemen? Who..

Yemen at War: Worthy vs. Unworthy Victims

A guard on Monday, June 15, walks past a home destroyed by Saudi-led airstrikes in San’a, Yemen. Pic/KHALED ABDULLAH/REUTERS

*Four months on and the war in Yemen still raging fiercely. Across the country, there have been over 19,000 casualties - people killed and injured - as a result of the increased violence, and the number of displaced has grown to over 1.2 million. These numbers continue to rise alarmingly as I write. Yemen, this devastated place, torn by the violence has victims unfairly perceived and treated as unworthy by all warring sides. No place in the world should allow victims to be unworthy.

Looked in more details, different sides in the conflicts have different worthy and unworthy victims.

This is not to underestimate the aggression coming from other sides whatsoever, but rather for the sake of chronicling the violent episodes in Yemen’s ongoing conflict, the Houthis’ aggression comes first. Citizens in the southern part of Yemen in particular have been treated as unworthy victims by the Houthi movement’s militias and its ally, the ousted former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh’s forces since they started bombarding president, Abdurabu Mansour Hadi’s house and Aden airport on the 19th of March in Aden (before what we all know today as the start of the Saudi-led airstrikes on Yemen). After Hadi fled the country, Houthi/Saleh’s forces started targeting people in the south systematically on the pretext that they are takiris and al Qaeda in the south of Yemen, then they shifted their propaganda to state they were fighting ISIS (Da’ash). All these slogans have ripped off southerners’ worthiness in the eyes of the Houthi/Saleh’s forces. At the same time, Houthis mastered stressing on local and international media alike how the Saudi-led coalition is murdering its own citizens in northern Yemen while overlooking their atrocities in the south. For Houthis, the victims of the Saudi-led airstrikes are the only worthy respect and attention victims. On the other side, southern resistance fighters perceive and treat Houthi victims as nothing but unworthy, why? because the antagonism has reached irreversible point. It’s astonishing how these stances are remote from any moral principle.

More importantly, despite its fragile status, the state, the Yemeni republic of the people has been the greatest unworthy victim by Houthis attempted coup d'etat against president, Hadi in September, last year. Houthis have been cracking down on its dissidence, which includes Hadi himself, ever since their expansion from Sa’adah to Sana’a in July last year. Specifically, since September, 2014, there have been dozens, if not hundreds, of civic activists, journalists, human rights defenders across Yemen who got harassed, abducted and tortured - some to death - by the Houthi militias in their own bloody purge.

Yemeni fighters of the southern separatist movement and firefighters attempt to extinguish a flame at an oil refinery in the port city of Aden on June 27, 2015, following shelling by Houthi rebels. Fire erupted at Aden's oil refinery when rebels shelled the nearby port to prevent a Qatari ship carrying aid for Yemen's devastated second city from docking. Pic/Saleh Al-Obeidi / AFP / Getty

Without giving any justification to the Saudi-led airstrikes campaign, which was initiated with the blessing of Yemen’s president Hadi himself, the airstrikes came as a reaction to Houthis’ already existing violence. On the 26th of March, the Saudi-led coalition, consisted of 11 Arab countries decided to bomb Yemen, while the other 11 Arab countries stood and watched in silence. The coalition’s aim was to restore president Hadi’s legitimacy, viewing Hadi as its only worthy victim and who deserved to remain safe in the palm of comfort in Riyadh in KSA. Are the strikes effective way to solve problems? of course not and more importantly they have led to a situation that is nothing but disastrous. As the Saudi-led coalition keep on claiming firing its airstrikes only against military points, the strikes’ horrifying collateral damage say one thing that Yemeni citizens are unworthy victims of these strikes, in the name of restoring a president’s legitimacy. 

For those who escaped the violence and became refugees at the shores of Somalia, Djibouti and elsewhere, they have been treated as unworthy victims in so many levels. Dozens of accounts by Yemeni refugees show how they were ill-treated and disrespected. Young Yemeni men are piling up at the gates of the Saudi borders facing extreme and random conditions to allow them entry. A relative I have was sent back to Yemen after she miraculously managed to escape to Sudan. Another relative I have was stuck in a refugee camp in Sudan for days while being mistreated, witnessing loads of violations against the human rights of these refugees. Miraculously, my relative made it to Ethiopia. For all Yemenis fleeing the violence, what the future holds for them is totally uncertain. It must be clear though, for a country to shut its doors against humans escaping death is another form of violence.

All these victims’ sufferings represent an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe. In Yemen, millions are facing the threat of famine because food assistance is not reaching them. People on the ground have been reporting how Houthi/Saleh forces in Aden are using food and medicine as a weapon of war, ‘I watched them turning back truck loads of flour trying to enter the city,’ describes journalist, Iona Craig.

Even worse, while more than 15 million are in need of basic health care, countless wounded are dying because hospitals are closing down due to lack of fuel. As a result of the total disruption by the war of all basic services an estimated 20.4 million people in Yemen are in need of potable water. Diarrhea’s prevalence – as well as risks of cholera, malaria and worm infestations – have all skyrocketed. The World Health Organisation said last month that more than 3,000 Dengue cases have been reported in Yemen since March, adding that the actual figure could be far higher.

While the suffering of Yemenis continue, there has been a humble global solidarity action that is trying to challenge the Saudi hegemony of media narrative about the situation in Yemen. Even though the momentum is not huge, it is the only matter that makes Yemenis still believe in our shared sense of humanity. Nonetheless, I urge everyone showing sympathy to Yemenis suffering to not only condemn the atrocities committed by the Saudi-led coalition but also to condemn the atrocities committed by the Saleh and Houthis’ forces. Don’t prioritise atrocities coming from one side over the other; violence exhibited from all sides should be condemned. For those who are in solidarity with the people in Yemen, make it clear that all victims in Yemen are worthy of peace and stability.


Yemen appreciates all the global solidarity actions but what Yemen is desperately in need of is the action of those in the international community with influence on the parties in the conflicts. Since the beginning of the war, the international community’s silence has been the loudest sound Yemenis hear. It’s time to break the silence about the violence in Yemen affecting all sides’ victims.

In the meantime, all parties allowing Yemen's humanitarian catastrophe to deepen longer are committing inhuman acts that may reach crimes against humanity.

*This piece was originally published in YourMiddleEast.com