Is Yemen falling into an abyss?
Yemen's brutal civil war must end soon before the damage becomes irreparable.
Constant fighting in Yemen is crushing its people with suffering that will change the shape of their society for many years to come.
On Nov. 15, US Secretary of State John Kerry announced a cease-fire agreement between the Saudi-led coalition and the Houthi rebel group.
The cease-fire agreement only mentioned the Saudi-led coalition and the alliance between the Houthis and ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. It excluded the internationally recognized Yemeni government led by Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The agreement included a request to Hadi’s government to participate in a unity government with the Houthi-Saleh alliance. Later the same day, Hadi’s foreign minister, Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, stated that his government was “not interested" in such an agreement.
With the stagnation in the process of ending hostilities and the lack of willingness of all warring parties to engage in a peace deal, the country is at risk of falling into an abyss. Yemen has been on the United Nations' List of Least Developed Countries in the world since the list's creation in 1971. Prolonging this devastating war threatens to keep Yemen in that position for a long time to come.
