Ceasefire in Yemen War

Why in news?

The Ceasefire between Yemen’s rebels and forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi came into existence in Al-Hudayda city.

What is the brief history of Yemen war?

• Yemen conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising.
• The event forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.
• This is because president, Mr Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by jihadists, a separatist movement in the south, and the continuing loyalty of security personnel to Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.
• The Houthi movement, which champions Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and fought a series of rebellions against Saleh.
• Alarmed by the rise of a group believed to be backed militarily by regional Shia power Iran, Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states began an air campaign aimed at restoring Mr Hadi's government.
• The coalition received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.
• The Saudi-led coalition had blockaded the Al-Hudayda port city, the main conduit for humanitarian aid to enter Yemen, for months, and the fighters, mostly UAE soldiers, were battling the rebels.

What is the status of Yemen’s humanitarian situation?

• According to the WHO, Since the Saudi intervention in 2015, at least 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen.
• The widespread damage caused to infrastructure by the coalition airstrikes and lack of supplies of food and medicines due to the blockade have pushed Yemen into a humanitarian catastrophe.
• About 12 million people are at the risk of starvation if aid doesn’t reach them fast. The country has also seen a massive cholera outbreak.
• A child dies every 10 minutes in Yemen from preventable causes, says UNICEF.

What is the ceasefire agreement about?

• The ceasefire between Yemen’s Houthi rebels and forces loyal to President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in the port city of Al-Hudayda came into existence recently.
• The agreement was reached in UN-mediated talks held in Stockholm earlier this month.
• This is due to the global pressure faced by Saudi Arabia to stop fighting in Yemen after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside its consulate in Istanbul.
• The spotlight on Yemen and its deteriorating humanitarian situation has been so strong after the Khashoggi affair that even the U.S., which supports Riyadh in the war, cut down its involvement by ending refueling of coalition aircraft.
• With the UN also pushing for talks, the Yemeni government backed by Saudi Arabia gave the green light for talks.

How the cease fire will work?

• According to the agreement, all combatants should withdraw from Hodeida in 21 days.
• UN observers will set up a monitoring team of government and rebel representatives to oversee the truce.
• But the Stockholm agreement is primarily focused on Yemen’s humanitarian conditions and that is why the ceasefire was agreed only in Hodeida.
• A solution to conflict can be found only if the rebels and the government make some political concessions.

Source: The Hindu