The military intervention by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) forces and their allies in Yemen is unprecedented and an indication of how serious the civil war has become. The restoration of Yemen’s legitimate government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi is a priority for the Yemenis and their friends in the region. The rapid advance of the Al Houthi rebels, supported by the forces loyal to the former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, have gravely endangered the state and need to be stopped.
The legitimacy of Hadi’s government was based on the very broad array of stakeholders in the National Dialogue Conference (NDC) that took place in 2012 after the departure of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The NDC included Al Houthis and helped set up a new federal constitution that gave new powers to Yemen’s regions in an important breakthrough that recognised the presence of significant political parties in Yemen’s north and south that needed to able to administer their regions more effectively. But the Al Houthis refused to abide by this constitution and captured Sana’a last September. Since then, they have steadily expanded their territory — first advancing to the Red Sea and then moving south until this week, threatening Aden. This has forced countries from all over the Gulf to rally to help Hadi after he called for assistance from the United Nations Security Council, the Arab League and GCC. Earlier this week, Hadi had asked the UN Security Council to authorise military intervention “to protect Yemen and to deter the Al Houthi aggression”. At the same time, Hadi said he had asked the six GCC members and Arab League for immediate help.
Saudi Arabia has prepared 100 warplanes for action over Yemen and started its first air strikes against Al Houthi positions yesterday. It has also got more than 150,000 troops on the Yemeni border, which can either hold the line or be ready to advance if required. This preliminary action has been supported by other countries, including Jordan, who had air force jets in action yesterday. Hadi has the support of GCC members Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE, as well as Sudan, Morocco, Egypt and Pakistan who are all willing to take part if necessary.
In the long term, Yemen cannot be treated only as a security or military problem. It badly needs a much wider range of nation-building aid and support, to allow its troubled government to give some hope to the people of a secure and prosperous future. For example, it has been a serious gap in US policy that it has focused on Yemen solely through the fight against Daesh (the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) and Al Qaida. It failed to introduce any substantial and long aid package that might have helped the struggling government do some good for its people.
The way forward is for the GCC forces to help restore Hadi to his legitimate position and reinforce the authority of the federal government. All parties in Yemen need to abide by the tenets of the 2013 draft constitution set up by the NDC. And the region and Yemen’s friends in the world need to support economic and social resurgence, and stop seeing Yemen solely as a target for drone strikes. It needs genuine help, not more killing.
