Yemen in grip of ‘apocalypse’ as humanitarian groups seek support

MILLIONS of Yemenis are trapped in a cycle of suffering as violence and conflict rages unabated in the Middle Eastern country.

A UN official recently said Yemenis were facing a situation that “looks like the apocalypse”. The dire situation has been described as the worst humanitarian crisis in 50 years.

The latest figures released by the UN High Commission for Refugees placed the number of Yemenese requiring assistance at a staggering 22.5 million. This increased by 2 million in just three months.

Last week, South Africa’s former ambassador to the Middle East, Mohamed Dangor, and the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, Fatima Chohan, assembled a civil society gathering in Pretoria to consider a response to this human tragedy. The deputy minister deals with refugees and asylum seekers and Yemen has a huge challenge in this regard.

The gathering was attended by Christian, Muslim and Hindu religious bodies, the commission, the Yemeni ambassador to South Africa, humanitarian organisations such as Islamic Relief and Gift of the Givers and other stakeholders.

The scale of the suffering is massive. More than 1 million citizens are internally displaced. Thousands have sought refuge in neighbouring countries. There has been a huge cholera outbreak, which Chohan described as “one of the worst in the history of the disease”. Hunger is widespread in the face of food shortages and skyrocketing prices.

Millions of children are out of school and half of all medical facilities are not functioning. Nine hundred university professors face starvation as they have not been paid for two years. When this happens to the elite in a society, it is not hard to imagine what the under classes are going through.

Simmering tensions flared after the Arab Spring when President

Ali Abdulla Saleh was forced to hand over power to his deputy Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.

The Houthi rebels from the North then stormed and took over the capital, Sanaa. Hadi fled to Aden where he set up government and later went into exile.

In 2015, a Saudi coalition began airstrikes, ostensibly to counter the growing influence of Iran.

The Saudis receive support from the US, the UK and France. The civil conflict and the airstrikes have claimed the lives of more than 10 000 people and more than 1 million have lost their homes.

The day before the gathering in Pretoria, there was fierce fighting in Aden and elsewhere, claiming the lives of 50 people.

For me, Aden sparks powerful personal memories. My grandmother, Ayesha Jaffer, fell ill and died in Aden in 1961 while returning from Hadj. Her only child, Hassan, buried his mother in a local cemetery and returned home alone.

I was only 2 years old at the time, so do not have vivid recollections of my paternal grandmother. But the story of her final journey has been related many times over the years.

And so, Yemen has some special meaning for us which makes the pain that the Yemenis are having to endure more real.

There are further connections. At the time of my grandmother’s passing, Capetonian Soeker Arnold, his wife Hagera and their children, Khayzuran and Abdurahman, were living in Aden. Arnold was working as a medical assistant for the

British Air Force, stationed in Aden at the time.

These good people became my in-laws when Khayzuran and I married in Cape Town in 1984.

As I sat in the meeting, I reflected on these connections and the current crisis in Yemen.

The challenges appear daunting, but attempts must be made to lessen the suffering of an entire people.

The meeting resolved to focus on the humanitarian assistance required. The participants decided to work together and support the efforts of Islamic Relief, Gift of the Givers and the commission.

My hope is that humanitarian support can grow dramatically in order to lessen the suffering in Yemen and that leaders work towards political solutions.

And that in the near future, Granny Jaffer will be able to rest in peace in a country that finds peace and justice.

Jaffer is parliamentary and media liaison officer, Deputy Ministry, Department of Home Affairs.