NEW YORK // The United Nations humanitarian chief has warned the world that Yemen is headed for total collapse as the international community fails to take action to end the conflict in the country and help the millions of people at risk of starvation.
Stephen O’Brien told the UN Security Council on Tuesday that countless previous warnings had gone unheeded, both by the warring parties and by the rest of the world.
“As I have previously briefed this council in recent months, urgent action is required to stem the suffering and yet, based on facts and as ever in complete candour, I return here to report the situation on the ground has continued to spiral downwards towards a total social, economic, and institutional collapse,” he said, the frustration clear in his voice.
“Yemen now has the ignominy of being the world’s largest food security crisis with more than 17 million people who are food-insecure. Crisis is not coming, it is not looming, it is here today – on our watch and ordinary people are paying the price.”
He spoke after the UN secretary-general’s special envoy to Yemen, who offered an equally desperate picture of suffering in the war-torn country as he briefed the Security Council on his efforts to find peace.
Apart from averting a military attack on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, which would have prevented food and medical supplies from entering Yemen and caused devastating loss of life, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed could offer only an otherwise gloomy assessment.
“Tragically the violence continues on numerous fronts, deepening the suffering on the Yemeni people,” he said.
Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed experienced the dangers first-hand on Monday last week when a convoy he was travelling in from the airport in Sanaa to the city’s UN compound came under fire. He was in the Yemeni capital as part of an effort to bring the warring parties together.
“I will not hide from this council that we are no closer to a comprehensive agreement,” he said. “The reluctance of the key parties to embrace the concessions needed for peace, or even to discuss them, remains deeply troubling. Yemenis are paying the price for their delays.”
A quarter of Yemenis cannot afford to buy food in local markets, he added.
Yemen has been badly affected by more than two years of war and decades of instability. The UN says almost 5000 civilians have been killed in clashes between Houthi rebels and pro-government Yemeni forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition. The result is a catastrophic humanitarian emergency.
Some 19 million of Yemen’s 28 million population need humanitarian assistance. Aid agencies say about seven million people are on the brink of starvation. More than 462,000 children are suffering from malnutrition.
Years of fighting have destroyed or damaged more than half the country’s health facilities and two-thirds of the population do not have access to clean drinking water.
Conditions have deteriorated further in recent months with a deadly outbreak of cholera, which has killed at least 471 people, according to figures released by the World Health Organisation on Monday.
Before the Security Council meeting on Tuesday, 22 aid agencies, including Oxfam, Action Against Hunger and the International Rescue Committee, called on the UN to end what it called a year of inaction.
“Yemen’s crisis is man-made,” they said in a joint statement. “It is a direct result of the armed conflict and cannot be solved with aid alone. It requires a political solution. It also requires that countries, including members of the Security Council, who are fuelling the conflict by supplying arms that are at risk of being used in the conflict cease doing so immediately.”
Matthew Rycroft, the UK’s permanent representative to the UN, said it was difficult to see any results from the process led by Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed but that he retained the Security Council’s confidence.
“He has our full support,” Mr Rycroft said. “He has put himself in physical danger personally but I think it’s a sign of his courage and his commitment that he is not being put off. He stayed in Sanaa for that round of meetings. He will go back whenever he judges it necessary and I think it’s important that we all get behind him, give him our full backing at this difficult time for the people of Yemen.”
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* With additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
Indoor cricket in a nutshell
Indoor Cricket World Cup – Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
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South Africa: Faf du Plessis (c), Hashim Amla, Quinton de Kock (w), JP Duminy, Imran Tahir, Aiden Markram, David Miller, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Andile Phehlukwayo, Dwaine Pretorius, Kagiso Rabada, Tabraiz Shamsi, Dale Steyn, Rassie van der Dussen.
What the law says
Micro-retirement is not a recognised concept or employment status under Federal Decree Law No. 33 of 2021 on the Regulation of Labour Relations (as amended) (UAE Labour Law). As such, it reflects a voluntary work-life balance practice, rather than a recognised legal employment category, according to Dilini Loku, senior associate for law firm Gateley Middle East.
“Some companies may offer formal sabbatical policies or career break programmes; however, beyond such arrangements, there is no automatic right or statutory entitlement to extended breaks,” she explains.
“Any leave taken beyond statutory entitlements, such as annual leave, is typically regarded as unpaid leave in accordance with Article 33 of the UAE Labour Law. While employees may legally take unpaid leave, such requests are subject to the employer’s discretion and require approval.”
If an employee resigns to pursue micro-retirement, the employment contract is terminated, and the employer is under no legal obligation to rehire the employee in the future unless specific contractual agreements are in place (such as return-to-work arrangements), which are generally uncommon, Ms Loku adds.
The Settlers
Director: Louis Theroux
Starring: Daniella Weiss, Ari Abramowitz
Rating: 5/5
