Yemen needs a US reset, not a retreat

Last week's violent anti-US protests underscore the need for greater US engagement in Yemen.?The country's economic, political, and security future hinges on alleviating humanitarian needs, addressing their root causes, and fostering an inclusive political transition.

By Kari Jorgensen Diener and Victoria Stanski / September 25, 2012

Yemeni demonstrators break a window of the US Embassy during a protest about a film ridiculing Islam's prophet Muhammad, in Sanaa, Yemen, Sept. 13. Op-ed contributors Kari Jorgensen Diener and Victoria Stanski agree with experts who say that 'unless Yemenis believe that their government can provide them with access to food, water, electricity, health care, and education, they will feel disenfranchised, and this in turn could further fuel extremism.'

Hani Mohammed/AP/File

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Sanaa, Yemen and Washington

Spurred by reports of an anti-Islam film originating in the United States ? The Innocence of Muslims ? that mocks the prophet Muhammad, tragic violence continued across the Middle East much of last week. The aggressive anti-US protests that have followed attacks at the US consulate in Benghazi, Libya starkly illustrate the challenges of engaging with a changing Middle East.

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Some American lawmakers have called for the Obama administration to respond to this violence by cutting off US assistance to some of those countries where violent protests have broken out. While this frustration is understandable, US disengagement would almost certainly undermine these fragile states at a critical moment in their transitions. This, in turn, would harm US interests in supporting stable democratic transitions, while undermining moderate and constructive local actors who are key change agents in the region.

The importance of continued US engagement is perhaps clearest in Yemen, where protesters stormed the US embassy in Sanaa on Sept. 13. Such violence underscores the turmoil already gripping that country as it grapples with the dual challenges of a major humanitarian crisis and a difficult political transition after decades of dictatorship.

As one of the major international aid organizations working in the country, our nonprofit charitable organization, Mercy Corps is actively responding to humanitarian needs there. From a humanitarian perspective, we can attest that what is needed is a US reset, rather than a retreat.

The US and other international donors will gather later this month in New York for the ?Friends of Yemen? donor conference with an important opportunity to recalibrate the world?s support for Yemen. The US approach to Yemen to date has focused primarily on addressing symptoms ? humanitarian needs, political violence, and extremism. It has done little to address the root causes these challenges.

Such a reorientation could be transformative for Yemen ? and for US interests in that country and the broader region. That potential is evident in the recent progress seen in the regional capital of Taiz, which is Yemen?s third largest city and often dubbed the heart of the country?s revolution.

Taiz, like most of the country, faces a humanitarian emergency. Although markets are brimming with food, a staggering one fifth of those living there go to bed hungry, and 40 percent do not have access to safe drinking water. Unemployment is rampant, affecting 1 out of almost every 2 people.

The repercussions of these circumstances play out in the day-to-day lives of women in Taiz like Amina, a mother of six whom Mercy Corps began supporting with food vouchers after she brought her two-year-old daughter Amat ? who weighed just 12 pounds at the time ? to the local clinic for emergency treatment. Amina?s husband is unable to secure reliable employment, and the family can barely afford rice and beans for their children. Their story is emblematic of the broader challenge facing Yemen.

If children like Amat are unable to access sufficient food and clean water ? especially during the vital early years of their lives ? medical research shows they could face negative lifelong health impacts. This story, when multiplied by the tens of thousands of children who are also acutely malnourished, illustrates the seriousness and scope of the crisis for Yemen?s future.

And the crisis isn?t simply one of health and nutrition. In a letter to President Obama in June, a group of leading Yemen and foreign policy experts in the US known as the Yemen Policy Initiative warned that unless Yemenis believe that their government can provide them with access to food, water, electricity, health care, and education, they will feel disenfranchised, and this in turn could further fuel extremism.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/osfOxkUaKjk/Yemen-needs-a-US-reset-not-a-retreat

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