‘Once We Control Them, We Will Feed Them’

Abstract

Abstract This chapter addresses the causes of the protracted food security crisis in Yemen. Pre-war Yemen was the poorest and most food-insecure country in the Arab world but had not experienced famine or mass starvation. Conditions of extreme deprivation and perhaps even famine have arisen from the combination of economic policies and military policies pursued by all the belligerents to the conflict (although there has been no ‘official’ declaration of famine by the United Nations). The strategies used by the Internationally Recognized Government and its regional backers (the Saudi-led coalition (SLC)) and the Houthis have included blockades and siege warfare, a destructive aerial bombing campaign (waged by the SLC), artillery and mortar attacks as well as the indiscriminate use of landmines near food and water points, the destruction of essential infrastructure (including water and power infrastructure), agricultural facilities as well as attacks on healthcare facilities. Humanitarian access has been restricted by all parties. At the outset of the conflict, the warring parties—especially the SLC—might have pleaded ignorance of the devastating consequences of their chosen means of pursuing their military and political goals, but as the conflict war on and those calamitous humanitarian outcomes became clear, no such pleas are credible. Yemen is the largest and most protracted case of man-made famine of our times.