Truce at last

The corona crisis has brought at least a ray of hope for Yemen. The Saudi-UAE coalition against the Houthi rebels who took control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa in 2014 has called for a truce which they say must last at least two weeks and give Yemen time to deal with the Covid-19 crisis and also embark on the process of talks called for by the UN to settle what it has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. More than one hundred thousand people have died in the fighting in Yemen, which is essentially a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthi rebels have so far refused to accept the ceasefire, and said the siege of Yemen and the refusal to provide it with essential supplies must be called off for at least a year before they agree to any halt in fighting.

Yemen has so far reported one case of the coronavirus. But then there has been little or no testing in a country devastated by war, where children die of hunger on the streets as their parents watch. Saudi Arabia, which neighbours it, has now reported hundreds of cases including within its powerful royal family, with a threat that there could be a wider spread of the virus. The UN had called for a ceasefire in all wars being waged around the world in the face of the corona crisis. We hope that it will indeed go into force in Yemen and also give space for a process of dialogue between the rival forces to begin so that a more lasting peace can be found in the ravaged country.

Corona is the largest crisis faced by humankind. As a result of its rapid spread, even Hajj could be called off for the first time since 1798. Around the world, people are in terrible peril. There are reports coming in that the virus, the nature of which is still poorly understood, may strike again and again. In this situation, killing sectarian rivals appears to be a futile and particularly nasty business. The call for a truce is a positive step. We hope all parties to the destructive war in Yemen will accept it, giving its people some respite at least for a period of time.