Can Biden Stop The Blockade In Yemen?

Protesters in Yemen demanding Saudi-backed forces leave. [AFP/ Mohammed Huwais]

By Alexia Underwood

A group of activists are on the 11th day of a hunger strike in Washington, DC. They have one demand: that President Biden end U.S. support for the Saudi blockade of Yemen. “A child is dying every 75 seconds in Yemen,” Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) tweeted after visiting the demonstration outside the White House on Tuesday. “This is an emergency. Yemen is being starved and @POTUS you can help end it.”

The situation in Yemen, which has been called the worst humanitarian crisis in the world, is the result of a devastating, Saudi-led six-year war on the country. The U.S. began providing support for the war under President Obama and increased support under Trump. Biden officially stopped U.S. support for offensive operations in the war earlier this year, but the U.S. still backs the Saudi coalition. Tens of thousands of Yemenis have died, and many more are suffering from malnutrition. But there’s a new, horrifying development.

In December, the Saudi coalition blocked fuel from entering the port of Hodeidah. A March CNN report on the blockade (watch it all the way through if you can handle it) showed trucks full of food sitting on the side of the road, hospitals unable to run generators from lack of fuel and children dying from malnutrition.

People are pushing for this to change. This week, more than 70 congressional Democrats sent a letter to Biden, asking him to end any “political, military, operational or diplomatic support for the blockade.” Yemeni Liberation Movement, the group behind the protest, is circulating a petition. What’s important, they remind us, is that this disaster is man-made – and we can help stop it if Biden rises to the task.

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