As Saudi-backed Yemeni forces continue to approach the key port city of Hodeidah, the lone source of food for millions of people in the rebel-held north, there are reportedly talks ongoing at the UN about avoiding the attack.
Martin Griffiths, the UN mediator for Yemen, says that there are talks ongoing with the rebel Houthis to place the port city directly under UN supervision. This would take the city off the battlefield, but leave it available to be used to import food and medical aid.
Since the Houthis are losing ground around the city, this may be their best bet for avoiding the mass starvation that would result from Hodeidah falling outright to the pro-Saudi forces. Other ports are only used to bring in supplies to the government-held south.
Houthi sources were quoted in the media as confirming that the talks are ongoing and the transfer is under consideration. The Saudi-led forces have yet to comment at all on the idea, and may object to a deal that denies them control over all food entering the country, and by extension who starves to death.
Now we get to find out if the UN is willing to intervene when mass starvation is a near-certainty, when powerful states that have threatened and de-funded UN agencies are likely to want the mass starvation to take place as scheduled.
( from https://intpolicydigest.org/2017/11/27/using-food-as-a-weapon-of-war/ )
“The blocking of relief supplies is a violation of international humanitarian law. The legal basis for this can be found in Additional Protocol I (API) to the 1949 Geneva Convention. Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, when speaking about the crisis in Syria last year, stated “The use of starvation as a weapon of war is a war crime.”
Eventually, the challenge will be the prosecution of the perpetrators of such crimes.”
( And from the World Food Program’s spokeswomen interviewed by Germany’s DW: )
“Why can’t the perpetrators be taken to court?
It’s possible through the International Criminal Court, but there are political reasons. That means those efforts sometimes get blocked. This is a political issue for political leaders or peacemakers to sort out.”
We must hold powerful governments accountable for their war crimes, and not just “eventually.”