There’s Still No End in Sight to Yemen’s Catastrophic War
Ongoing efforts to negotiate a peace agreement in Yemen haven’t brought an end to fighting between the Houthi movement and a Saudi-led alliance. Even if those efforts bear fruit, Yemenis will suffer the consequences of a humanitarian disaster for years to come.
Fighters loyal to Yemen’s Saudi-backed government march during a mass funeral for fellow fighters, killed during clashes with Houthi rebels, in Yemen’s western province of Hodeida on October 31, 2022. (Khaled Ziad / AFP via Getty Images)
Events in April 2022 raised hopes that Yemen’s war might finally be coming to an end. The United Nations Special Envoy Hans Grundberg, appointed in September 2021, successfully persuaded the fighting groups to engage in a two-month renewable truce while he tried to initiate serious negotiations for a long-term political settlement.
In the same month, the Saudi and Emirati governments terminated the ten-year tenure of Yemeni president Abdu Rabbu Mansur Hadi and the six-year tenure of his vice president, Ali Mohsen. They were replaced by an eight-man — as usual, no women — Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) composed of the rival leaders of the major anti-Huthi military and political factions.
After two renewals, the truce that Grundberg had managed to broker expired on October 2, 2022. The warring factions were not yet ready to end the suffering.
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