With as little as three months worth of food stocks remaining, tens of thousands of newly displaced, and sustained fighting in nearly half of Yemen’s governorates, the humanitarian catastrophe continued to unfold in March. Attention remains fixed on Hodeidah, where a UAE-led offensive to capture the country’s main port is anticipated. The escalation is expected to exacerbate what is already considered the largest humanitarian crisis on earth, and both sides are being accused of weaponizing aid. UN Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh toured several Gulf and European countries, including London where a meeting on March 13 convened the Quint – the foreign ministers of the US, UK, UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Oman. Like the previous meeting in February, no notable developments were announced and this is expected to remain the case in the coming months if the Hodeidah offensive goes forward.
To read the full March 2017 issue of The Yemen Trend, click on the PDF icon below. The Yemen Trend is a monthly digest that highlights Yemen’s key economic and humanitarian trends and political and military developments, providing context and analysis where necessary in order to facilitate informed discussion deeply rooted in the facts.