Stop bloodshed in Yemen
The area of Yemen, an Arab country, is 2,03,796 square miles and its population is 2,38,33,000 approximately. The country is bounded by Saudi Arabia on the north, Oman on the east, the Gulf of Aden on the south and the Red Sea on the west. The GDP is $ 58,202 billion and the per capita income is $ 2,249. The North and the South Yemen were unified on 22 May in 1990 with Sanaa as capital.
The country has plunged into a new civil war, throwing the country into the state of uncertainty. The civil war gives the USA an opportunity to have a new military base there if the Shiite Muslim militias are defeated.
Yemen is far from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. So, reinforcement from these countries to the Shiite Muslims is almost impossible. On the other hand, the 11 Gulf States led by Sunni Saudi Arabia have openly declared war on the Shiite Muslims. Indiscriminate bombing of Yemen bears the testimony thereof. Not only that, the USA publicly and Israel secretly are providing logistic supports to the ousted President of the country to prevent rise of Muslims as political force in Yemen.
Interestingly, the Gulf States have not raised their guns towards the ISIL militias and Israel. We think that they will never do it.
I have no statistics in my hand at present as to how many millions of Muslims have been killed in the Middle East since invasion of Iran by Iraq under President Saddam Hossain and invasion of Afghanistan by the erstwhile Soviet Union in 1979. The figure may be two millions.
Before witnessing a holocaust, we request the Arab League and the OIC to take neutral measures so that there is no more bloodshed in the Middle East.
Ameer Hamzah
Dhaka
