The Humanitarian Situation in Sa’ada: By All Standards, Unforegivable

By: Hassan Al-Haifi
October 26, 2009
The Humanitarian Situation in Sa’ada
By All Standards, Unforgivable


(Photos courtesy of UNHCR)

It is simply deplorable that 23 million people should sit idle and apathetic while a sizable number of their Yemeni brothers, sisters and children have no shelter over their heads, stand to lay down for the night with their stomachs empty of any nourishment to keep them warm on these cold mountain winter nights or even blankets to keep that cold away from their shivering cold pale skins. No way can the Al-Mighty be forgiving of a people who have been blinded by the fairy tales of politicians and thugs, who have forgotten that they will be accountable eventually to their people for not fulfilling the minimum requirements of the Social Contract they have forcefully captured from their people. Never mind that the latter’s capture of the reigns of authority is not driven by any sense of national responsibility or even care as for the social welfare of the people they have held it upon themselves to be divinely blessed with the right of perpetual authority over their necks. On the contrary, it has become apparent as the decades go by that the people of this land are the last thing in the frigid minds of these thugs and war lords. It is the latter, who have filled the valleys and plateaus of this once happy country with the blood of its very own people, using the very resources that God Al-Mighty has bestowed upon the people of Yemen to further their livelihoods. How can one remain silent when even the icons of the Arab cinema (http://weekly.alahram.org.eg%202009/969/re62.htm) are absolutely appalled by the unforgivable plight of the IDPs (internally displaced persons of the Sa’ada War. How can a government that allows its people to face such inhumane conditions have any credibility among the international community, let alone among the rest of its own people, who themselves are the victims of the most horrible manifestations of governance in existence today. When the ICRC – or the International Committee of the Red Cross - (which is supposedly working in partnership with the Yemeni Red Cross – a supposedly local civil society organization under the tight control of the political security organization, as most of the so called civil society organizations that are supposed to safeguard the public interest are) is complaining that its much appreciated humanitarian work is being hampered by local government red tape, intentional obstacles or Saudi Arabian Government reluctance, the observer cannot help but wonder in awe: “What has this world really come to?”.

It is no mystery to the observer that there are now close to 200,000 IDPs (why the number remains stuck at 150,000 – which is the same number at the end of Round V – is in itself a mystery most of whom are out of the care of any reasonably acceptable humanitarian assistance and a substantial number of whom are on the borderline of death from the menacing negligence of government officials, fed by greed, selfishness and sheer contempt for any sense of human justice.

Time and again, most of the people and pens of conscience of Yemen and elsewhere have sought to remind the President of the Republic, Ali Abdullah Saleh, that it is he who can restore some semblance of sanity to those, who are seeking to tarnish his record with incompetence, repression and misgovernment and all the ugly traits that have made this country the classic example of failure in governance in all manifestations of public administration. Moreover, it is the President who will in the end be accountable to history and the Lord Al-Mighty for every transgression that arises in his administration of affairs of state.
It should also not be forgotten that anyone here and abroad, who views all the melancholy of governance one is witnessing coming out of Sana’a, and the tragedy unfolding in Sa’ada are bound to be also accountable to history and to their siblings for the inexcusable apathy they displayed as this tragedy in Sa’ada continues to unfold.

The sooner this war in Sa’ada comes to an end, not necessarily as others want it, but in a way that reminds us that the Yemeni Government understands the awesome responsibility it shoulders under the Social Contract, the better for all concerned, especially those who insist on not relinquishing any of the tight helms of authority at their disposal, led by the President of the Republic himself.

Yemen Times Issue 1306, October 26, 2009