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For Yemenis, shaky truce not much different from war
AL-DURAYHIMI, Yemen, Jan 31, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Yemeni medics scrambled to
save a 20-year-old woman after a sniper’s bullet tore a gash in her scalp in
the port city of Hodeida, where a fragile ceasefire has brought limited
respite to war-weary civilians.
A truce brokered in Sweden in December between the Saudi-backed government
and Huthi rebels was hailed as Yemen’s best chance so far to end the four-
year conflict, but it appears to be hanging by a thread with breaches
reported by both warring parties.
Civilians in Hodeida, the war-ravaged country’s main conduit for food and
humanitarian aid, are caught between a bloody ceasefire and the prospect of
an even bloodier conflict if the UN-brokered truce breaks down.
“There is no truce,” said Ali Hassan Marzouqi.
His daughter Hayat was rushed to a field hospital in the village of Al-
Durayhimi, on the southern edge of Hodeida, after a stray bullet grazed her
head while she was sitting at home.
“Snipers, improvised explosive devices, mines and mortars,” said Iyad
Nasser, deputy head of the hospital, rattling off the nature of casualties
reported every day since the truce.
Despite the ceasefire, mortar shells continue to crash into camps near
Hodeida, which are bursting with ever more displaced Yemenis — many of them
malnourished.
“Before the ceasefire, my house was hit,” Mohammed Saleh, 46, said at a
camp in the nearby town of Khokha.
“After the ceasefire, my tent was hit. Nothing has changed.”
Many at the camp fear returning to their homes and farm lands despite the
truce, accusing the rebels of rigging them with mines — often camouflaged as
rocks — as punishment for fleeing to government areas.
– Spiral of conflict –
AFP travelled to Hodeida last week on a military embed organised by the
Saudi and Emirati-led coalition fighting the rebels.
Hospitals around the city have noted a reduction in fatalities since the
truce took effect, local fishermen have felt safer going out to sea and aid
workers have managed to reach starving communities previously cut off by war.
But the ongoing bloodshed has fuelled a bleak view shared by dozens of
civilians and military officials interviewed by AFP — that the ceasefire is
likely to collapse, pushing Hodeida into a deeper spiral of conflict that
could precipitate famine.
“While the truce agreement initially brought some hope and relief,
Hodeida’s poorest residents live under the shadow of a resumption of
conflict, particularly as the implementation of deconfliction processes
remains slow at best,” said Adam Baron, a Yemen expert at the European
Council on Foreign Relations.
Further casting doubt on the fate of the ceasefire, UN special envoy Martin
Griffiths on Monday said some of the terms agreed during the Sweden talks,
including a prisoner swap deal between the warring parties, had been delayed.
Griffiths also confirmed plans to replace retired Dutch general Patrick
Cammaert, who heads the monitoring team tasked with overseeing the withdrawal
of rival forces from Hodeida.
The Huthis are using the truce to fortify their positions inside Hodeida
with a maze of shipping containers, trenches and sniper nests inside dense
residential neighbourhoods, residents told AFP, in what they believe are
preparations for a resumption of war.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has separately pointed to Huthi allegations that
pro-government forces were massing troops close to the city.
Colonel Saeed Salmeen, an Emirati commander on Yemen’s west coast, denied
the allegation but said his men were ready for battle if required.
– ‘Control our temper’ –
“The coalition and the Yemeni government will have to cope with an
unforgiving international climate if battle recommences,” said Michael
Knights, a fellow at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
“Though the Huthis appear to have deliberately sought a collapse of the
ceasefire, performing provocative strikes… blame will probably accrue to
the coalition if they advance in Hodeida.”
US lawmakers have demanded greater accountability from Saudi Arabia for its
military campaign in Yemen, after journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder put
Riyadh’s role in the conflict under the spotlight.
As they watch wounded fellow soldiers pour into hospitals during the
ceasefire, their bodies sometimes riven with shrapnel, pro-government
loyalists evince frustration that the truce halted their offensive just as
they got tantalisingly close to the rebel-held port.
BSS/AFP/RY/09:38 hrs