Germany's Baerbock says UN must broker Yemen peace
May 16, 2023
Germany's top diplomat Annalena Barbock says the United Nations must be an integral part of securing long-term peace in war-torn Yemen. An improvement in regional ties meant there was now a spark of optimism, she said.
Baerbock met Yemeni counterpart Ahmed bin Mubarak in the city of JeddahImage: Bernd von Jutrczenka/dpa/picture alliance
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German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock on Tuesday urged the United Nations said lasting peace in Yemen could only be brokered through the United Nations.
Baerbock, on a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia, said the recent rapprochement between the two countries meant there was finally a "glimmer of hope" for Yemen after years of war.
"It's important to me that there's a little more light out of the glimmer," she added, making an "urgent appeal" to the actors involved in the civil war-torn country to negotiate a ceasefire.
"We're still a long way from the home stretch," Baerbock said after a meeting with Yemeni counterpart Ahmed bin Mubarak in the city of Jeddah. "A lot more is needed for a lasting peace."
"To achieve this, all parties must be involved," she added, saying it was essential that they support the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg.
Baerbock also met the UN Coordinator for Yemen, David Gressly, to talk about the humanitarian catastrophe after eight years of civil war in the poorest country of the Arab world.
Berlin estimates that some 67% of Yemen's population — which amounts to 21 million people, including around 11 million children — need aid.
"It is one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world," Baerbock added.
Fighting has diminished considerably since a truce was announced in April 2022, although the ceasefire expired in October.
Riyadh's ambassador to Yemen traveled to Sanaa in April as part of a plan to "stabilize" the truce.
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Is an end to the war in Yemen likely?
The conflict in Yemen is a civil war on the surface, but it is also a proxy war between the country's Saudi Arabian-backed government and Iran-backed Houthi rebels alongside other smaller groups.
However, there has been a recent thaw in relations between Tehran and Riyadh, which has significantly increased the chances of peace in Yemen.
A flurry of diplomatic activity followed a Chinese-brokered announcement in March that Iran and Saudi Arabia, who have backed opposing sides in conflicts around the Middle East, would work towards repairing ties.
Riyadh broke off relations in 2016 after protesters in Iran attacked Saudi diplomatic missions. That followed the execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, although it was only one in a series of flashpoints between the long-time regional rivals.
Saudi Arabia has been a war party in Yemen since 2015. Its air force carried out numerous attacks on the country, killing thousands of Yemeni civilians, according to human rights groups.
Yemen: Aid organizations running out of money
The war in Yemen grinds on. Many locals are alive thanks to external aid. But now there is a danger that those organizations too will run out of money. A donor conference takes place this week to try to remedy that.
Image: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
Shortage of aid
The humanitarian crisis in war-torn Yemen is getting worse again. According to the United Nations' World Food Program (WFP), 13 million people there are in danger of starvation. This is due to the ongoing civil war in Yemen and a shortage of humanitarian aid.
Image: Khaled Ziad/AFP/Getty Images
High dependency
Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many more people are going hungry. Yemen is one of the most deprived countries, with more than 40% of the population dependent on WFP deliveries.
Image: Khaled Abdullah/REUTERS
Running out of money
"We’re feeding 13 million people out of a nation of 30 million people and we are running out of money," David Beasley, the head of the WFP, told the Associated Press recently. "So, what am I gonna do for the children in Yemen? Steal it from the children in Ethiopia, or Afghanistan, or Nigeria or in Syria? That’s not right," he said.
Image: Giles Clarke/UNOCHA/picture alliance
Incomplete aid packages
At the moment only those who could die of starvation are actually receiving their full ration, said Corinne Fleischer, director of the WFP's program for the Middle East and North Africa. That equals about five million people. And the donations so far only cover 18% of the almost $2 billion (€1.8 billion) that the WFP needs for its work in Yemen.
Image: Mohammed Mohammed/XinHua/dpa/picture alliance
Ukraine war worsens hunger
The Russian invasion of Ukraine threatens to makes things even worse here because the WFP was sourcing around half of its wheat from Ukraine. Even before the war began, prices had risen so much that wheat had to be rationed. The World Bank has also suggested that the Ukraine war will bring about worse famine.
Image: AHMAD AL-BASHA/AFP/Getty Images
Bloody civil war
A bloody civil war, in which external states have got involved, has been ongoing in Yemen for the past seven years. Since 2015, a Saudi Arabia-led coalition has fought the Iran-supported Houthi rebels, who now control most of the country. This includes the capital, Sanaa.
Image: imago images/Xinhua
Chaos in Aden
The southern city of Aden has been controlled by separatists since 2020 and has been the base of the internationally recognized government, headed by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, since the Houthis pushed it out of Sanaa. Terrorist groups are active in Aden — this picture shows the aftermath of an attack that killed eight in 2021.
Image: Wael Qubady/AP Photo/picture alliance
No shelter
The battle for the oil-rich city of Marib was particularly harsh. The city is seen as strategically important and was the last bastion of the officially recognized government in the north. The fighting just goes on here, with the Saudis continually bombing the area. Civilians are forced to keep moving their displaced persons camps because the frontlines keep shifting.
Image: AFP /Getty Images
Hospitals full up
Health care in Yemen is even worse than it was before. The ongoing war as well as the COVID-19 pandemic have only made things more dire in the poorest country on the Arabian peninsula.
Image: Abdulnasser Alseddik/AA/picture alliance
Schools bombed
In a 2021 report, UNICEF said that education has been one of the Yemen war's biggest casualties. More than 2 million school-age girls and boys are not attending classes. That is twice as many children as before the war started. Many schools have been bombed.
Image: Mohammed Al-Wafi /AA/picture alliance
Spiral of misery
Power, clean water, petrol — there's always something missing in Yemen. The queues at petrol stations just keep getting longer. Without more funding for aid, this downward spiral of misery will only continue.
Image: Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images
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The country appears keen to end the costly war, which the UN estimates has killed at least 377,000 people. Riyadh has been engaging in back-channel negotiations with the Houthi, including talks in neutral neighbor Oman.
Later in the day, Baerbock was due in Qatar, where talk on the situation of the approximately 2.6 million foreign migrant workers in the country was planned.
Germany was among the foremost critics of the country hosting last year's men's football World Cup after reports of migrant worker deaths and mistreatment.
