Sham Yemen Peace Conference Postponed

by Stephen Lendman

Riyadh's 3-day May 17 - 19 so-called peace conference was little more than a thinly veiled PR stunt. It featured photo-ops.

It was entirely one-sided. Nothing was accomplished. Pro-Western/Saudi supporters alone showed up.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for another conference in Geneva - to begin May 28.

Over the weekend it was "indefinitely postponed." Houthis refused to accept one-sided Security Council Resolution 2216 provisions.

It supports aggression, they said. It calls for their unconditional surrender by demanding they withdraw from areas held, lay down their arms, cease their liberating struggle, recognize the illegitimate ousted Hadi regime and refrain from nonexistent provocations against neighboring states.

It mandated other unacceptable one-sided terms. It imposed an arms embargo on Houthis alone. It fueled conflict by ignoring their free-flow to US/Saudi-supported forces.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called for "a UN-brokered process of political settlement via an inclusive national dialogue" with no outside interference.

Saudi terror-bombing and shelling continue. Scores die daily. Many others are injured. Civilians by far suffer most.

Oxfam said over two-thirds of Yemen's 24 million people have no access to clean water and sanitation - making them vulnerable to diseases and death.

Oxfam's Grace Ommer said the numbers affected are "equivalent to the populations of Berlin, London, Paris and Rome combined…"

Millions of Yemenis are "rotting under heaps of garbage in the streets, broken sewage pipes and without clean water for the 7th consecutive week" - a disaster worsening daily.

Ommer called for an immediate halt in fighting to allow rebuilding of water infrastructure.

Yemeni authorities in 11 cities urgently requested humanitarian organizations provide fuel for pumps to supply water.

Ommer warned of a serious disease outbreak if water and sanitation issued aren't quickly addressed.

Over half the population lack enough food and nutrition to survive. An epidemic of food insecurity worsens daily.

Full-blown humanitarian crisis conditions exist. US-orchestrated/Saudi-led terror bombing heads toward its third month.

Fars News estimates nearly 4,000 killed, many thousands more wounded. Freedom House Foundation indicates most casualties are civilian men, women and children.

Vital infrastructure as well as thousands of residential buildings and public facilities have been damaged or destroyed.

Yemeni mosques, monuments and historical sites are targeted. Last Thursday, Saudi warplanes destroyed the Dhamar regional museum.  Artifacts in it dated back thousands of years - an invaluable treasure lost.

Western media headline likely Islamic State fighters destroying Palmyra, Syria treasures - at the same time ignoring Dhamar.

Yemen is Obama's war, planned months before Saudi-led terror bombing began. The nation is being systematically ravaged and destroyed - raped by US imperialism.

Western, Israeli and Arab leaders support what demands universal condemnation and accountability.

Millions of Yemeni lives are at risk. Bodies keep piling up in streets and under rubble of destroyed structures.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif's earlier four-point peace proposal to end fighting was ignored. It called for:

• warring parties agreeing to halt fighting;

• providing desperately needed humanitarian aid;

• initiating intra-Yemeni dialogue; and

• establishing unity governance with all parties participating.

Yemenis should resolve their own issues, Zarif stressed, free from outside interference. International law prohibits intervening in the internal affairs of other countries.

It forbids attacking another country except in self-defense and only if Security Council members authorize it.

No such authorization exists. US/Saudi et al war on Yemen is naked aggression by any standard. Nothing in prospect suggests resolving things quickly or equitably.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago. He can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book as editor and contributor is titled "Flashpoint in Ukraine: US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanIII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com.

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