To Whom It May Concern,
The civil war in Yemen has been going on for more than a decade. The civil war that started in 2011 has thus far killed thousands of civilians, displaced millions of civilians, made millions of people famine-affected and malnourished, destroyed businesses and other establishments and brought many other negative impacts. The civil war started between the then government and Houthi rebels after the initial Yemeni uprising in 2011 against the Saleh government particularly at the early stage of Arab Spring with demands for improved economic conditions, ending corruption, ending political repression, the cancellation of the government’s proposals to modify the constitution and the resignation of the President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Though the extent of the war reduced recently, it is still going on without any sign of ending.
Of course, some efforts were taken to resolve the crisis including the 2011 mediation attempts by the Gulf Cooperation Council, the national reconciliation process in 2013-2014, the Oman Initiative in 2015 and the United Nations resolution in 2015. But such efforts failed to reach an acceptable solution to the conflict since there are many significant challenges. Indeed, there are not only armed conflicts among the conflicting parties but also ideological differences and a lack of trust among groups in Yemen. Moreover, there are reflections of regional geopolitical rivalry and is an involvement of global geo-political rival groups in the conflicts. For instance, Saudi Arabia and Iran, two geopolitically rival countries in the Arab region, support rival groups fighting in Yemen. Besides, there are some other groups including Al-Qaeda.
But it is undeniable that military actions and counter actions by the rival Yemeni groups and their allied parties will not lead to any immediate and peaceful solution to the civil war that has in the meantime devastated Yemen in economic, social, political and other terms. It is, thus, desired that all allied parties to the rival groups that are in conflict in Yemen provide a rethought on their military action or their support to the civil war, which is an ongoing power struggle among parties, in Yemen. Instead, an election based solution is preferable for putting an end to it, though it is difficult to be ensured.
Of course, a transitional government can be established by regional and global initiatives to hold elections. It is, thus, further desired that measures are taken to hold dialogues among the parties, especially the rival parties in Yemen, to reach an agreement. Thus, regional and global leaders need to pay the needed attention to the solution to the civil war in Yemen through political means.
Amir M Sayem
Founder and Chief Editor
Dhaka Opinion Magazine
