‘For humanitarian reasons’

Russia is campaigning in favour of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Yemen, for humanitarian reasons.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also called for a 24-hour cessation of hostilities in order to enable humanitarian assistance to victims of the war there.

About 500 people were killed in the two weeks of fighting in Yemen, according to UN estimates, more than enough to prompt a ceasefire.

There can be no justification for rejecting the call for an end to hostilities in order to help the wounded and the innocent people trapped by the war and by the aerial attacks on Houthi positions.

At the same time, experience shows that ceasefires can be exploited to prepare for more fighting and to strengthen the defensive positions of either side in the armed conflict.

As such, and as clearly stated on Saturday by the Jordanian ambassador to the UN, and currently the president of the UN Security Council, any call for an end to the hostilities in Yemen, for whatever duration, must also address the “root causes” of the conflict and be used as an opportunity to call for negotiations on the basis of relevant UN Security Council resolutions.

The Houthis executed a coup against the legitimate, UN-recognised government in Yemen and refused to negotiate in good faith and seriously to end the political conflict.

They will have to be held accountable, no doubt, but the problems in the country are many, and not all Houthis’ doing.

Interestingly, Moscow has yet to call for a ceasefire for humanitarian reasons in Syria, where casualties far exceed those in Yemen.

Neither has it — or the international community for that matter — called for a similar resolution when Israel waged its all out war that sowed death and destruction in Gaza last summer. 

A call for a ceasefire, or any other form of respite in the fighting, in Yemen must come from neutral quarters that have no vested interests in the outcome of the war in the country.

While legitimate, the initiative by Moscow, which took sides in the conflict, is somehow viewed with suspicion.

But then, again, calls for an end to war and destruction are welcome and should be heeded, irrespective of where they come from.