Will Joe Biden reinstate humanitarian aid to Yemen? Democratic senators seek action to counter Covid-19 impact
President Joe Biden took a major step in US external affairs last month when he vowed to end American support for operations that its allies have conducted in Yemen, a country that has been devastated by non-stop war over the last six years and seen over 110,000 dead. Several thousands of Yemenis are also reportedly starving to death in famine-like situations created by the war.
In the last week of February, Biden spoke about Yemen during his call with Saudi Arabian King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and stressed on efforts to end the war there. The Saudis lead the military coalition that has intervened in Yemen to defeat the Houthi rebels and restore the country’s internationally recognized government. The US had backed the government under the presidencies of Barack Obama and Donald Trump.
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After Biden vowed that the war in Yemen must end, a number of Democratic lawmakers have taken an initiative to request he restore the humanitarian aid in northern Yemen which was suspended in the times of Trump.
Massachusetts Senator Edward J Markey, Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley, Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen and Vermont Independent Senator Bernie Sanders wrote a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Acting Administrator Gloria Steele seeking reversal of the previous administration’s decision to suspend Washington’s humanitarian aid in Yemen.
In March last year, the Trump administration cut off tens of millions of dollars for healthcare programs and other aid to the devastated Middle East nation, rejecting requests by humanitarian groups and some members of Congress to delay the decision as the Covid-19 pandemic swept across the region.
Officials defended the move saying it was necessary to respond to the Houthi rebels who control the northern parts of Yemen. The USAID suspended humanitarian assistance worth over $50 million to northern Yemen in response to the Houthi rebels’ efforts to obstruct speedy assistance.
In their letter, the senators wrote: "The spread of Covid-19 in 2020 exacerbated the Yemeni civilians’ already perilous existence; they have faced repeated displacement, rising food insecurity, environmental disaster, limited access to assistance, loss of livelihoods and extreme currency inflation."
"The disproportional impacts of Covid-19 on the most vulnerable demand a flexible response from the United States, the United Nations, and international non-governmental organizations (INGOs), especially as the people of Yemen grow increasingly desperate. Our humanitarian assistance worldwide — provided solely on the basis of need, not politics — showcases American values during the Covid-19 pandemic and this period of unprecedented need," it added.
The lawmakers also outlined some key steps for Blinken and Steele to undertake over Yemen and they include reversing the current blanket International Non-Governmental Organizations’ (INGO) humanitarian suspension in northern Yemen to ensure that America’s aid (especially over $50 million in Congressionally appropriated funds to support medical treatment, vaccinations, sanitation, etc) reaches the needy.
They also sought to avoid "any attempts to implement inflexible and uncoordinated future blanket restrictions on INGO-funded grants in Yemen" and wanted the US to work in partnership with the INGO community to show flexibility "in restarting assistance where partners on the ground deem it possible to reach beneficiaries."
US envoy to UN wants focus to shift on Yemen
Meanwhile, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the new UN ambassador, has vowed to re-energize diplomatic efforts to bring the world’s worst humanitarian crises to an end, citing the cases of Yemen and Ethiopia. Thomas-Greenfield, who took over the presidency of the UN Security Council for March, said the goal will be to “bring awareness to the world about these growing and devastating humanitarian crises and to call for leadership on the council for urgent, necessary solutions.”
“In these regions, war and instability have left millions of people and two million children under the age of five at risk of starvation and acute malnutrition,” Thomas-Greenfield told reporters, adding: “We cannot stand idly by.”
It was on Monday, March 1, that Yemen and aid organizations slammed a shortfall in international donor funding for the country, including the UK’s decision to reduce roughly 50 percent of its support for humanitarian efforts, saying it was a “death sentence” for people who have gone through the civil war.