A truce in Yemen should come with the means to rid the country of explosive remnants of war and other weapons. Despite that the country is still enjoying a period of relative calm since the end of the truce in October 2022, the Yemeni population continues to live in fear of being the so-called “collateral damage” of war.
While it’s true that the world is no longer witnessing — for the moment — a full-blown armed conflict in Yemen with hundreds of missiles, drone attacks, and airstrikes carried out on civilian targets, we should not minimize the risk of re-escalation.
While countries such as the United Kingdom, France, and the United States continue to sell weapons to Saudi Arabia even though the coalition harmed and killed thousands of civilians during its operations. With weapons flowing the prospect of peace may seem distant.
In Yemen, when the threat doesn’t come from the sky in the form of missiles and airstrikes, it comes from the ground with landmines and other explosive remnants of war ready to detonate.
Yemenis we met noticed an increase in incidents related to explosive devices during the 2022 truce. In fact, the highest proportion of casualties since the truce started in April 2022 comes from explosive remnants of war, increasing by about 60% since 2021.
With global prices rising from the war between Ukraine and Russia, prices have also skyrocketed in Yemen, pushing an already poor population into further poverty. Yemen imports more than 90% of its food and critical goods, making it extremely vulnerable to global market fluctuations and unstable currency.
The war in Yemen is about to enter its ninth year in March 2023, yet it doesn’t need to turn into a decade-long conflict. No efforts should be spared to bring peace to Yemen.
Source: Inkstick Website
