From The Guardian:
“The Saudi air force has carried out indiscriminate attacks that have caused the majority of civilian deaths and injuries during the conflict. Airstrikes have targeted civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, farms, schools, water infrastructure, markets and the main port of Hodeida. They complement a Saudi-led naval and air blockade of rebel-controlled areas that has caused shortages of many essential items, including food, fuel and medical supplies.
It was not until four weeks after the start of the outbreak that the first plane carrying medical aid was allowed to land in Sana’a. The government no longer pays public employees working in rebel-controlled areas. About 30,000 health workers have not received a salary for almost a year. Sanitation workers and water engineers in Sana’a have been on strike for months, leaving uncollected rubbish on the streets and municipal drains clogged.
So it is not surprising that rebel-controlled areas are disproportionately affected by the cholera outbreak. About 80% of cases – and deaths – have occurred in governorates controlled by the Houthis. In rebel-controlled areas the attack rate – the number of cases among every 1,000 people – is 17, compared with 10 in government-controlled governorates. The percentage of people with cholera who die is 0.46% in rebel-controlled areas, compared with 0.3% in government-controlled governorates. Thus, a person living in areas under rebel control is 70% more likely to contract cholera and, if they do, 50% more likely to die.
These numbers indicate that the outbreak is not simply an inevitable consequence of civil war. It is rather a direct outcome of the Saudi-led coalition’s strategy of targeting civilians and infrastructure in rebel-controlled areas. Criticism of the US and UK governments’ support for the Saudi-led intervention, this has not led to a policy change. In December 2016, the Obama administration banned the sale of precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia due to concerns about civilian casualties in Yemen, but in May 2017 the Trump administration agreed to sell $500m such weapons as part of a $110bn deal. The following month a bipartisan effort to stop the sale failed by a few votes in the Senate. Last month in the UK, the high court rejected activists’ claims that ministers were acting illegally by continuing to sell fighter jets and precision-guided bombs to Saudi Arabia when they might be used against civilians in Yemen. In the absence of strong international condemnation of Saudi-led operations, it is hard to foresee a quick end to this public health emergency and the broader humanitarian crisis.”
