Peace in war-ravaged Yemen? Long wait, severe hunger must not end in half-cooked food

“Before the war you could eat whatever you wanted, anything, now it’s one bite,” said a nine-year-old boy to The Guardian, the boy belonged to the village A’unqba, somewhere in the central highlands of Yemen. Years have passed since the statement, however, the solution remained doomed. However, recently, the boy might have got a reason to redream his lost paradise, as a distinct light of peace and tranquillity is visible in Yemen. On Friday, 14 April 2023, peace negotiations bore the heaviest fruit hitherto, as the Saudi-led coalition and Houthi rebels, two most prominent conflictual factions of the eight-year-long civil war, swapped around 900 prisoners, with Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeting that talks had been “serious and positive”. The conflict began in late 2014 primarily between the Rashad al-Alimi-led Yemeni government and the Houthi armed movement, along with their supporters and allies. Houthis captured the capital city of Sana’a and by 25 March, 2015, Lahij fell to them and the rebels reached the doors of Aden, seat of power for president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi. This led Hadi to flee and Saudi Arabia to launch military operations to re-establish ‘recognised’ Yemeni government. Since then, the world has seen the “biggest humanitarian crisis” perhaps in the entire history of mankind, with the United Nations Population Fund stating, “A staggering 21.6 million people require some form of humanitarian assistance as 80 per cent of the country struggles to put food on the table and access basic services.” But, 2023, became a year of hope for the war-torn nation, with parties ostensibly depicting a serious urge to resolve the conflict. The valuable mediation is being provided by Oman, which enjoys the goodwill of ‘friends-of-all’ foreign policy that it has followed since Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said ascended the throne. Once ridiculing Muscat for not joining this ominous conflict, Riyadh seems to have finally realised where lies the sense. “Since the beginning … Oman has been the voice of reason, saying early on that military intervention wasn’t the answer in Yemen but rather peaceful diplomatic political talks… Eight years on, Oman is demonstrating that it has always been right,” Afrah Nasser, a non-resident fellow at Arab Center Washington DC, told Al Jazeera. Further, a China-brokered ‘detente’ between two warring bloc heads of the Middle East - Saudi Arabia and Iran - might have also given a fresh breath to the emerging sentiments of probable coexistence among the Sunni and Shia poles of Islamic civilisation. Even though nowhere Iran has directly involved itself in the aforesaid conflict, its proximity to Houthis is a known fact. But what dynamics have changed? Why a sudden hurry is overt for the resolution of a conflict which was considered an unrelenting “stalemate” in a proxy war between two arch-rivals? As attributed to Abbas (A.S.) on the battleground of Karbala - “ye kham khyali hai ki dariya hai tumhara, dariyaa hai humra,” (It is a false belief that you own the river, these waters are ours)-  Saudi seeks to reply to the US in the very same way. The US-Saudi partnership is falling apart, as the alliance that was prima facie based on security and oil seems to be fading away. Clearly, the Biden government can hardly be a reliable security guarantor, particularly to Mohammed bin Salman-led Saudi monarchy. Further, as the emphasis on the renewables-fueled global economy is being laid, it decreases the relevance of oil fields for every player, for Trans-Atlantic people and for Middle Asians as well. In this case, Saudis have realised that the best option is to make a face-saving escape from Yemen and focus on creating an economy that is diverse and safe enough to attract future investments that goes beyond crude oil. On the other side of the Gulf, Persia (Iran), is facing the tag of “rogue state” and isolation. It is very much expected that it will seek to break American shackles and opt for alternatives to boost up its economy and increase its geopolitical clout, in a region traditionally dominated by a hostile superpower at least an ocean away. Houthis for their part has also realised that negotiations are rational settlement to end the conflict that has caused them enough fatigue and sizable casualties. This led Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, member of the Supreme Political Council and former head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, to say, “If we were not looking for full control during the war, then we will not look for full control at any other time”, in an interview with CNN. Frankly implying that Houthis are open to a power-sharing agreement with other Yemeni factions involved in the dispute. Oman on its part wants to project itself as an important regional player and boost its standing in the Arabian peninsula. Further, peace in the backyard has always opened up better bargains for any economy. Above all, it may allow Muscat to become the Switzerland of Arab, both in terms of investments and neutrality. But what about the boy of A’unqba, would he have a plate full of his choicest dishes back? Beyond the airstrikes and deadly violence, Yemenis face “structural violence” - violence where social institutions themselves permit systematic violence resulting in the exploitation of the community as a whole or a section of it. Corruption, internal-strifes and several militias fighting for power have worsened the situation. Rival sections in basic institutions of polity and economy have resulted in two different central banks and separately managed currencies. Further, the issue of compensation which involves the rebuilding ofthe economy and payment of public servants remains inconclusive. In this dim light dawn, rushing hurriedly may result in a gruesome fall. As Shams-i Tabrīzī, the spiritual instructor to the 13th-century Islamic poet Rumi, remarked, “Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process.” Parties involved must deliberate elaborately on a whole spectrum of issues before them and must reach a conclusive, broad-based, inclusive, and people-centric solution to power sharing and economic reconstruction. Read all the Latest News , Trending News , Cricket News , Bollywood News , India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook , Twitter and Instagram .