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For 33 years Yemen was ruled by Ali Abdullah Saleh, an army officer who seized power in 1978. A typical despot making Western alliances and executing suspected opposition, Saleh looted Yemen's scarce resources and concentrated power and wealth in his close circle of relatives. Family members headed military and national institutions such as the national airline, Yemenia Airways, and the Yemen Economic Corporation (YECO). Saleh allowed Yemen’s air bases to be used by US drones, and gladly received Western aid, cash and arms supplies.
A reunited Yemen was founded in 1990 when Saleh signed a treaty with then South Yemen president Ali Salim al-Beidh. But the Yemeni people continued to live in widespread poverty, while a small corrupt elite looted the country's resources. In fact, it was Saleh and the corrupt elite he favored that led Yemen into ruin. A UN panel estimated in 2015 that Saleh was thought to have accumulated up to $60 billion through corruption during his tenure. This would make Saleh the fifth richest man in the world. And that while he made Yemen one of the poorest countries in the world, with widespread unemployment and persistent inflation, its billions of dollars in oil revenues embezzled.
It was not only Saleh and his family who were corrupt and enriched themselves. Around ten families and groups of business associates controlled over 80% of the country's resources, from manufacturing, banking, telecommunications and goods transport. Some of the most influential clans were the Hashid clan, Bakil clan and the Madhaj clan. Nepotism was rife and even crucial institutions like hospitals were affected. As a consequence the services in the energy, communications, health and education sectors were inadequate or at times completely dead. The literacy rate stagnated at around 40%, half of the population lived in poverty.
In 2011 the people of Yemen went on the street to protest against corruption and poverty. They forced Saleh, after 33 years of rule, to step down. But the era that followed Saleh's rule was no better for the Yemeni people. Houthi rebels, a Zaidi clan supposedly funded by Iran, used the political instability that followed to conquer large parts of the country leading Yemen into a full blown civil war. Saudi Arabia unrightfully intervened in the conflict, claiming to support the “legitimate government of Yemen”, causing one of the largest humanitarian crises in the Middle East. Since March 2015 Saudi Arabia has been waging an aerial campaign against Yemen’s rebel-controlled north, which includes the capital, Sanaa. Like all wars and civil wars, what weighs most heavily in Yemen's war is the human cost. During its campaign Saudi Arabia has become notorious for bombing funerals, hospitals and other obviously civilian targets.
Academics have been amassing data from Yemen which strongly suggests that the Saudis’ Yemen campaign contains a programme for the destruction of rural livelihood. Saudi Arabia is deliberately bombing Yemen's small agricultural sector, including cows, farms and sorghum. This would lead a post-war Yemeni nation not just into starvation, but total reliance on food imports for survival.
And it is not only the air strikes. Millions of people are doomed to starve because of a blockage initiated by Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia cut the amount of desperately needed food, medicine and fuel getting into the country by more than half, this war is far from a “humanitarian” intervention for the good of the Yemeni people. A narrative that is still largely propagated by Saudi run state media. The United States is a partner in Saudi Arabia’s Yemen crimes, it is backing Saudi aggression against Yemen by co-operating in every way with the Saudi military.
Yemen today is a perfect example of the hypocrisy and injustice that is all present in international politics. Today, Saudi Arabia is murdering Yemeni civilians on a daily basis. And the whole world is watching. Does holding hands with Saudi Arabia as it slaughters Yemeni children reflect American values?
This is just another story of an Arabic country, torn by war, corruption and poverty. Why is it that everywhere we look so many suffer, while so few live in excess? Why is it that everyone fights only for themselves and no one fights for justice?
The Holy Prophet Mohammed prophesied that there would come a time where the Arabs will be stricken with famine, calamity, and oppression. A time in which the rulers of the earth are more corrupt than ever before in which only the Mahdi can save the Ummah from its misery.
Imam Ali Pbuh said in AlJafr: "...and the people of Yemen shall pledge allegiance to the Mahdy. The enemies of Allah wish to prevent their destiny, so woe to them from what the heavens shall rain down upon them".
But the question is: Will the Yemeni people decide to support the only men that can save them from their dreadful fate or will they let him down? We say to them: Oh people of Yemen, do not get lost in the fight of the tyrants amongst each other. Do not associate with them just because you are accustomed to it. Don't you see that whoever you support, in the end it is them who profit and it is you who loses? That is because none of them fights for the sake of God but each of them fights only for the sake of their own selves.
The only party you should join is the party of truth and god that can set an end to this misery. It is the party of the Mahdi who will come to end the rule of the tyrants and finally free you from their grip. Wake up oh Muslims. What you have waited for has come.