EU Resolution for Arms Embargo on Yemen, Diphtheria Outbreak Spreads
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org - Home - Stephen Lendman)
US/Saudi aggression on Yemen has been raging since March 2015, drone war on the country begun earlier by Bush/Cheney - prospects for conflict resolution nowhere in sight.
On November 30, European Parliament members adopted a resolution, calling for an arms embargo on Yemen.
In February 2016, they voted for halting European ams to Saudi Arabia, doing it again last September - protesting against its terror-bombing and blockade of Yemen.
EU parliament voting is nonbinding, failing to compel member states to pressure Riyadh, including by cutting off arms sales.
They continue unabated, including from America. Profits for arms merchants of death and destruction matter more than human health, welfare, and safety, along with regional and world peace - anathema notions in Western and despotic Middle East capitals, notably in Israel and Riyadh.
Humanitarian conditions in Yemen are the world’s worst - the “largest food-security emergency in the world,” according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
On November 27, the World Health Organization (WHO) said a diphtheria outbreak in Yemen is spreading, WHO’s Dr. Nevio Zagaria saying:
“It is shocking that in 2017, there are children dying of an ancient disease” that’s easily preventable and easily treated - not in a war zone where vital medicines and healthcare aren’t readily available.
“(C)hildren and adults (are dying) while the medicines needed to save their lives were available only a few hours away.”
“We need unconditional and sustained access to all areas of Yemen to stop these unconscionable deaths from malnutrition, cholera, and now diphtheria,” Zagaria added.
So far, nearly 200 clinically diagnosed cases of diphtheria and 20 deaths were reported, mostly children and young adults.
The outbreak is spreading fast to 13 Yemeni governorates. As long as blockade conditions continue, vital essentials of life can’t reach millions of Yemenis in need.
If unchecked, “diphtheria can cause devastating epidemics, mainly affecting children,” the WHO explained.
Cholera in Yemen rages, hundreds of thousands affected, numbers increasing daily. According to the Red Cross, a million Yemens in three cities are at risk of a renewed outbreak - because clean water is unavailable.
Lack of fuel prevents proper sanitation. Terror-bombing continues daily, supported by Washington and its rogue allies.
Lack of food caused famine conditions in parts of the country. The official death toll way undercounts the extent of the increasing calamity.
Western media largely ignore what’s going on, especially on television, notably in America. Saudi committed atrocities against Yemeni civilians get no coverage.
Earlier this year, UNICEF explaining a Yemeni child dies every 10 minutes, was ignored by US media, little elsewhere elsewhere in Western countries.
Despite increasingly dire conditions, conflict in Yemen is ignored, a forgotten war, media scoundrels pretending it doesn’t exist.
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