Middle East expert Katherine Zimmerman said on Thursday that there appears to be no end in sight for the humanitarian crisis in Yemen despite potential peace talks to end the country’s civil war.
“Even if the war were to end, the humanitarian crisis would still persist,” Zimmerman told Hill.TV’s Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti on “Rising.”
“There are efforts now to actually bring about ceasefire talks and political talks to end the war, and it seems as though we might have hope,” she said, referring to the Saudi-United Arab Emirates operation to take back the port city of Hodeidah being put on hold in advance of peace talks.
“We’re looking at efforts to put more humanitarian aid into Yemen. All of that said, the trajectory is really bad, and it’s going to be really difficult to reverse it at this point,” she said.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have been leading the Arab-coalition of troops in the war against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
The UAE’s foreign minister said on Wednesday that the country was in support of the “early convening” of planned United Nations peace talks about the conflict in Yemen.
We welcome early convening of UN-led talks in Sweden. At UNSC meeting on Friday, Coalition will urge all parties to take advantage of window of opportunity to restart political process.
We look forward to hosting Martin Griffiths this week in Abu Dhabi.— د. أنور قرقاش (@AnwarGargash) November 14, 2018
However, the humanitarian crisis brought on by the conflict still persists.
Two million people have been displaced, according to the UN, and an estimated 10,000 people have died as a result of the conflict.
“Yemen is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. As the conflict enters its fourth year, more than 22 million people – three-quarters of the population – need humanitarian aid and protection,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in April.
— Julia Manchester
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