GRIM ANNIVERSARY IN YEMEN
One year in, Saudi-led war has taken deadly toll on children
HAZYAZ, YEMEN— The baby was born in war, even as planes blasted his village in Yemen. Five months later, Udai Faisal died from war: his skeletal body broke down under the ravages of malnutrition, his limbs like twigs, his cheeks sunken, his eyes dry.
“He didn’t cry and there were no tears, just stiff,” said his mother, Intissar Hezzam.
The spread of hunger has been the most horrific consequence of Yemen’s war since Saudi Arabia and its allies launched a campaign of airstrikes and a naval blockade a year ago. The impoverished nation of 26 million people, which imports 90 per cent of its food, already had one of the highest malnutrition rates in the world, but in the past year the statistics have jumped.
The number of people considered “severely food insecure” — unable to put food on the table without outside aid — went from 4.3 million to more than seven million, according to the World Food Program. Ten of the country’s 22 provinces are classified as one step away from famine. Where before the war about 690,000 children under 5 suffered moderate malnutrition, now the number is 1.3 million. Even more alarming are the rates of severe acute malnutrition among children — the worst cases where the body starts to waste away — doubling from around 160,000 a year ago to 320,000 now, according to UNICEF estimates. Exact numbers for those who died from malnutrition and its complications are unknown, since the majority were likely unable to reach proper care.
The Saudi-led coalition launched its campaign a year ago, March 26, 2015, aiming to halt the advance of Shiite rebels known as Houthis who had taken over the capital, Sanaa. The fighting and the heavy barrage of airstrikes have killed more than 9,000 people, including more than 3,000 civilians, according to the UN Human Rights Office. Around 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes.
The ripple effects from war have tipped a country that could already barely feed itself over the edge. The food, fuel and other supplies that do make it into the country are difficult to distribute because trucks struggle to avoid battle zones or need to scrounge for gas.
The fate of Udai illustrated the many factors, all exacerbated by war, that lead to the death of an infant.
The day Udai was born, warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition were striking an army base used by Houthi rebels in their district of Hazyaz, a shantytown on the southern edge of Sanaa. Shrapnel hit their one-floor, one-bedroom house.
“She was screaming and delivering the baby while the bombardment was rocking the place,” Faisal Ahmed, Udai’s father, said.
“He didn’t cry and there were no tears, just stiff.” INTISSAR HEZZAM UDAI’S MOTHER
Hezzam was able to breastfeed her newborn son for about 20 days, but then her milk stopped, likely from her own malnutrition.
The Saudi-led coalition has allowed humanitarian flights bringing medical supplies as well food and water in to Sanaa, as well as shipments into Hodeida port, the closest one to the capital. But getting the supplies around the country is difficult. Even pre-war transportation infrastructure was poor and now trucks often can’t get through battle zones.
Hospitals are also short of fuel to keep generators running and have been hit by airstrikes or caught up in fighting.
Ahmed blames Saudi Arabia’s air campaign for his son’s death.
They buried Udai at the foot of the mountains nearby. His father read the Quran over the tiny grave marked only by rocks, reciting, “On God we depend.”