Yemen’s Forgotten War: How Europe Can Lay the Foundations for Peace

Summary
After years of conflict Yemen is on the verge of absolute collapse. Institutions across the country are falling apart, while a plethora of armed groups have taken advantage of the power vacuum to claim leadership over key territories, leading to even greater fragmentation of the country.

The conflict, and the accompanying Saudi-led intervention, has brought about the Middle East's most severe humanitarian crisis, with 86% of the population in need of humanitarian assistance. Yemen is facing a lost generation, as hundreds of thousands of Yemeni children grow up without an education or enough food to eat.

The EU and its member states have a moral and strategic interest in ending the conflict. Failure to act could result in Yemen becoming a new hub for globally oriented terror groups, and could spur a new wave of refugees into Europe.

The EU should make the most of its comparatively neutral position in Yemen to pave the way for post-conflict stabilisation and reach out to groups that have, to date, been marginalised in the ongoing peace process. The EU can complement UN efforts and may be faced with the responsibility of filling in for an increasingly isolationist United States.

EU: EEAS: Yemen and the EU https://eeas.europa.eu/headquarters/headquarters-homepage/1877/yemen-and-eu_en

ESO: Background information: Yemen: What Next? http://www.europeansources.info/record/yemen-what-next/

European Commission: Humanitarian Aid and Civil Protection: Where we work: Middle East and North Africa: Yemen http://ec.europa.eu/echo/where/middle-east-north-africa/yemen_en

The Conversation, 07.01.17: Yemen: a calamity at the end of the Arabian peninsula https://theconversation.com/yemen-a-calamity-at-the-end-of-the-arabian-peninsula-67954

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