1,000 Days into Yemen’s Forgotten War, NGOs Urge Action
Local Editor
A thousand days of bloodshed: as Yemen prepares to mark Wednesday's grim anniversary, aid workers are urging world powers to bring an end to a forgotten war.
Meanwhile, photographs of children starving to death failed to spur the international community into ending the world's worst humanitarian crisis, which charities warn is deepening by the day.
"There are things that could happen tomorrow that could stop children from dying," said Caroline Anning, a senior adviser at Save the Children who recently traveled to Yemen.
"Considering the depth of the suffering and the fact that it's entirely man-made, we haven't had the level of international attention on Yemen that you would expect to see."
The British charity expects 50,000 children to have died needlessly by the end of this year, with a crippling blockade on ports and airports compounding food shortages and a cholera outbreak affecting nearly one million people.
At the top of many aid workers' wish list is to see the Saudi-led coalition, which has been pounding Yemen since March 26, 2015, lift the blockade which has drastically reduced their ability to bring in food and medical supplies.
Under a newly launched online campaign called Yemen Can't Wait, some 350 public figures signed an open letter urging the United States, Britain and France to do more to end a war that has claimed more than 8,700 lives.
The conflict "has transformed the poorest country in the Middle East into the world's worst humanitarian crisis," said the letter published in France's Le Monde daily on Monday.
The letter calls on US President Donald Trump, his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron and British premier Theresa May to push for an immediate ceasefire and peace talks as permanent members of the UN Security Council.
It pointed to these countries' lucrative arms contracts with Saudi Arabia.
"Millions of Yemeni women, men and children feel abandoned by world leaders, who seem to place profits and politics before human lives," said the letter signed by stars including actors Bill Nighy and Juliette Binoche.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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