Stockholm, 12 June, 2015 - A seminar organized in Stockholm today by Sabaa Consulting Services, and the Scandinavian Yemeni Friendship Association (SY-FA), and hosted by Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) has presented a bleak outlook on the cost of the ongoing conflict on the Yemeni population.
SY-FA president Dr. Amr Al-Haidari presented updated figures of a UN report on the war indicating that about half of all Yemenis in the country are food-insecure and almost 20 million, which represents 80% of the population, are in urgent need for basic humanitarian assistance.
The seminar panel was chaired and moderated by Mrs. Bushra Nasr, who is a Yemeni World Bank expert based in Stockholm and Sabaa Consulting Founder. Mrs. Nasr said the seminar was initiated to address the largely ignored humanitarian suffering caused by the ongoing conflict in Yemen. She went on to introduce the event as a contribution to building bridges of understanding between Yemen and Sweden and as one of a series of future events and activities to foster dialogue and various forms of collaboration.
Dr. Walid Al-Saqaf, a Yemeni scholar at Stockholm University noted that despite reaching staggering and unprecedented levels, the conflict-inflicted human suffering in Yemen often goes unnoticed by the world due to the lack of sufficient media coverage. "The closure of media institutions, blocking of websites, kidnapping of journalists, and using some of them as human shields have all kept the current situation in Yemen away from the media spotlight around the world." Al-Saqaf said.
Dr. Al-Saqaf further added that the telecom sector has been severely affected by the conflict and remains at risk of total collapse, potentially isolating Yemen from the world. To prevent such a scenario, he referred to the Yemeni Network for Emergency Exchange & Telecommunications (YNEXT) as a "promising project organized by civil society in Yemen to create means for journalists and activists to remain connected to the Internet and continue to report about the situation on the ground."
Speaking from Sana'a via Skype, Deputy Head of Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Yemen Mr. Simon Schorno painted a grim picture of the humanitarian crisis across the country, particularly as fighting has now reached 20 of the 22 governorates. He pointed out that the ongoing conflict created major challenges to ICRC teams on the ground as they weren't able to deliver urgently needed aid provided by the international community to some of the most severely affected areas in cities such as Aden, Dhale', Taiz and Abyan.
Mr. Schorno further noted that many airports, sea ports, and bridges have been destroyed, making the delivery of international aid quite difficult. He added that health institutions are under heavy strain due to attacks, decreased medical supplies along with difficulties and risks facing medical staff and shortages in fuel, which have all critically impacted the functionality of health sector as a whole. "Yemen's health system is on the verge of a catastrophe" he warned.
Amidst the ongoing conflict, Ms. Shatha Al-Harazi expressed her optimism in a possible breakthrough that could emerge from the anticipated Geneva meeting to start on June 15. Given her previous role on the National Dialogue Conference, Ms. Al-Harazi argued that the conflict has created a situation where there is no safe place in the country and that the crisis cannot be solved via military means. "The involved parties must stop fighting and agree on a politicial settlement to resume the transitional process" she said.
Presenting the Swedish perspective on the situation of Yemen, Sida's Head of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) unit Mr. Anders Frankenberg said that media coverage of Yemen remains quite limited, which makes the seminar an important opportunity to raise awareness of the situation in the war-torn country.
The aid that Sida provides, according to Mr. Frankenberg, focuses on humanitarian assistance and the protection of children as well as anti-corruption efforts. Since 2012, he said that Sida provided about SEK 125 million sek in addition to assistance through regional support initiatives. “It is likely that Sida will increase its humanitarian support for Yemen during 2015” he said.
