The Forgotten City in the Yemen War: Why Did the United Nations Remember 'Taiz' After 6 Years?

In the midst of a wide movement, the visit of the United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, to the southwestern city of Taiz, drew attention towards the policy of international disregard that affected the city during the 6 years of the suffocating siege imposed by the Houthi militia on it.

Grundberg's visit to Taiz on November 8, 2021, is the first by a UN envoy to the city since the start of the war in Yemen nearly 8 years ago.

The UN envoy, who was appointed on August 6, 2021, met with the leadership of the local authority and representatives of political parties and civil society organizations in Taiz governorate, he was briefed on the humanitarian situation in the city.

Most of the city's ports, which are under the authority of the Yemeni government, are besieged by the Houthi militia.

The siege imposed on the population made it difficult to move between Taiz and other governorates, and it caused a significant increase in the wages of transporting goods to it, which caused prices to rise.

The siege also led to a worsening deterioration of the humanitarian and health situation in the densely populated city, especially after preventing the entry of a lot of aid and impeding the delivery of emergency humanitarian supplies to the city.

The city of Taiz is of great importance in the conflict equation in Yemen, it has a demographic weight that makes it one of the three most important urban centers in the country.

Taiz is in the middle of Yemen, which indicates the central role that the city can play in the face of any scheme that might target the fate of the country's unity.

 

UN Failure

In view of the influence that the city of Taiz enjoys, the file of lifting the siege imposed by the Houthis on it constituted a major topic at the negotiating table, despite the marginalization of the file after the agreement was reached in the Stockholm Agreement in December 2018.

Many observers believe that political calculations behind some of the partners of the legitimate leadership in Yemen is the reason behind the obstacles that prevent a fundamental treatment of the humanitarian crisis in Taiz.

Especially since countries participating in the Arab coalition are still leading a diplomatic and media movement against Taiz in Western and international circles, this reflected negatively on the way the United Nations organizations deal with the humanitarian situation in the governorate.

Grundberg's visit to Taiz attracted the interest of Yemenis, some commentators considered it a failed attempt to restore the crumbling image of the United Nations in the mentality of Yemenis, while others considered it an important step in the right direction that must be built on.

The writer and political researcher, Adel Dashela, said that “the political failure of the United Nations led it to fail to address the humanitarian situation during the past stage until today.”

“The need to change the tools of the United Nations in mediation and not to remain in the same ways as the previous envoys,” Dashela stressed, in an interview with Al-Estiklal.

In turn, the Executive Director of the Taiz Human Rights Center, Aiman al-Kmali, said: “I am amazed at the disregard to which the siege of the city was subjected by the United Nations organizations and their envoys before Grundberg.”

“The policy of the United Nations towards Taiz is full of disregard for a major file, which is the siege of a city inhabited by 3 million people,” al-Kmali added to Al-Estiklal.

“Taiz has been subjected to continuous bombardment for 6 years, in which children, women and the elderly were killed, despite all this, this file is absent from UN attention and interaction,” he continued.

According to the Taiz Human Rights Center, the violations committed by the Houthi militia against civilians from March 2015 to 2020, recorded 17,326 cases of dead and wounded, including 3,916 children, 1,527 women and 1,053 elderly people.

Since 2015, the city of Taiz has witnessed dozens of demonstrations and popular campaigns denouncing the continuation of the siege imposed by the Houthis on the city, which called for permanent international pressure on the Houthis to dismantle it, without regard by international organizations and the UN Security Council.

 

Messy Hands

The pro-Iranian Houthi militia entered Yemen early in the war, in the face of the indignation and condemnation of Yemenis over the violations committed by militia militants against civilians.

With the emergence of the forces of the Transitional Council and the forces of Tariq Saleh, supported by the UAE, the position of the United Nations has become condoning crimes, which practiced by the militia in the north and south is questionable and condemned by the Yemenis.

On May 11, 2017, politicians and soldiers loyal to the UAE announced the establishment of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) in Aden, headed by the former governor of Aden, Aidarus al-Zoubaidi.

The STC leads the demand for disengagement from northern Yemen, it uses weapons to achieve this demand, and it owns a military militia, the most famous of which is the Security Belt and the Southern Elite Forces.

Brigadier General Tariq Saleh is one of the most prominent military leaders in the regime of his uncle, the late President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Brigadier General Tariq allied himself with the Houthis after they took control of Sanaa on September 21, 2014.

After his uncle was killed in December 2017 at the hands of the Houthis, Brigadier General Tariq turned into an opponent of them and an ally of the UAE.

Brigadier General Tariq takes the coastal area of Mocha as a stronghold for his military formations funded by the UAE.

Observers believe that the United Nations was implicated in supporting the Houthi militia in many indirect ways during the Yemen crisis.

At the same time, it has adopted a lenient policy in the face of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in the city of Taiz, in great service to the efforts of the UAE to keep the city under siege, which Abu Dhabi believes helps it to harm the most prominent Yemeni political current in the city.

Here is a reference to the Islah party, against which the UAE adopts a hostile position, and claims that it dominates the political scene in it.

Yemeni journalist and writer Wadih Atta told Al-Estiklal that “no one knows the bad intentions embodied in the Saudi-Emirati coalition's abuse of Taiz.”

“In their eyes, Taiz is the center of the Islah Party (the Muslim Brotherhood), the traditional opponent of the coalition countries, which must remain without victory or relief sufficiency and without real interest from legitimacy to become vulnerable to chaos,” Atta added.

“The truth is that Taiz is greater than the parties and all groups, and it is the most important revolution and the title of democracy in Yemen, even in times of war, despite the suffering it suffers,” he stressed.

 

Diverse Messages

The visit of the new UN envoy carried diverse messages to all political components inside Taiz.

Although the visit did not achieve much progress with regard to the humanitarian file, according to observers, it showed Grundberg's liberating will to truly understand the Yemeni crisis.

On his part, Yemeni researcher and writer Muhammad al-Maiahy said: “Grundberg's visit to Taiz showed the collapse of the Gulf narrative, and the exposure of the story of the intelligence basements.”

“Today we are witnessing the disintegration of the fabricated vision of Taiz, as the UAE is promoting through its tools that the city is the stronghold of irregular militias, and this is not true,” al-Maiahy added to Al-Estiklal.

“For years, the Saudi and Emirati vision controlled the UN view towards Taiz, but today we are witnessing the formation of a new UN view on the ground, which has a realistic awareness of the reality of the conditions and forces in the city,” He stressed.

Emirati propaganda has failed to isolate Taiz from the world anymore, and the city became possessed of an unambiguous presence in the UN mentality.

Regarding the possibility of the success of the UN envoy’s efforts to end the siege on Taiz, Khalil al-Omary, editor-in-chief of the Rai Al-Yemen website, described Grundberg as having highly effective and dynamic capabilities in a very complex crisis.

“Grundberg is moving on the ground, and he reached the al-Turbah and Mocha areas for the first time as a UN envoy to Yemen,” al-Omary explained to Al-Estiklal.

“These recent movements in the areas controlled by the allies of the Arab coalition disturbed the leaders of the Houthi militia and made them appear as a marginal party to the equation of peace and war,” he pointed out.

It is worth noting that the armed Houthi militia advanced towards the city of Taiz in March 2015, nearly 6 months after the coup carried out by the militia against the government in Sanaa.

Violent battles erupted throughout the city, where the militia was controlling areas, before government forces liberated it at later times in August 2018.