No one who has followed the Houthi rebellion in Yemen over the past year can be in any doubt about the violent and abusive nature of the rebels. For those who are, the report by the Yemen Coalition to Monitor Human Rights Violations lays bare the extent of the violence.
Thousands of civilians were killed and injured by Houthi shelling and attacks, thousands were detained without trial or charge – they were, effectively, kidnapped – and of course the Houthi surge south from Sanaa meant that vast parts of the country were deprived of basic food, water and sanitation. A shocking tally of violence and abuse.
All of this has been going on for a year, although it has worsened in the past few months since the Houthis sought to take control of the country by force. But it is not merely human rights abuses that the group has carried out: they have also shown willful disregard for basic rules of war.
That, indeed, is the main cause of why the war has continued as long as it has. Twice in July, ceasefires were started, only to be broken by the Houthi side. The same thing happened in May, when the Houthis openly violated the truce within hours of it starting.
Houthi intransigence was also the cause of the most recent round of talks breaking down. Since a UN resolution was passed in March demanding that the Houthis commit to withdrawing from areas they had seized, the Saudi-led coalition has urged the group to accept it. For months, the group has refused, but has continued with the charade of seeking peace talks. This month, the Yemeni president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi refused to meet the group until it backed the resolution.
All of this pretence at observing rules of diplomacy and war has simply made the suffering of Yemenis worse. If the Houthis were sincere, perhaps an agreement could have been reached many months ago. Indeed, were the Houthis sincere, this situation would never have begun: it was because of the Houthis’ pretence of “standing up” for the Yemeni people that they first entered Sanaa. Only later did their real aim of taking over the state become apparent.
The Yemeni people and the coalition have paid a heavy price for this insurgency by the Houthis. It has now lasted for a year. That is a year too long.
