Middle-East Arab News and Opinion - Asharq Al-Awsat is the world’s premier pan-Arab daily newspaper, printed simultaneously each day on four continents in 14 cities
Introduction European leaders hoping that a new U.S. administration and COVID vaccines would bring some respite to tempestuous global affairs might look back disappointed at the past few months. A lot has happened since Crisis Group put out our last EU Watch List in January. Despite some bright spots, little of it has been good. First was the Myanmar coup; an entry in this update covers where things stand. The military takeover upended the country’s short experiment with pluralism and provoked a degree of popular fury the generals seemed unprepared for. Though they appear eager for a return to the normalcy, their brutal crackdown has taken the country in the opposite direction. With the economy in tatters, a humanitarian calamity worsening, ethnic armed groups renewing violence and new militias emerging, the crisis risks paving the way for state collapse.
US Envoy: Marib is Not Falling Now, It s Not Going to Fall in Foreseeable Future aawsat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aawsat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Alleviate Yemeni suffering
The humanitarian crisis is trapping Yemenis in a “relentless downward spiral”, Mr. Lowcock added, pointing to famine “stalking the country”, COVID-19 pushing the healthcare system to collapse, and unabated war “making everything else much worse”.
“I want to be clear that famine, disease and other miseries are not simply ‘happening’ in Yemen”, he said, “the war is imposing them”.
A ceasefire, opening the ports and opening Sana’a airport, would go “a long way towards alleviating people’s suffering”, explained the UN official, adding that these measures could also set the country “on a path towards a more sustainable peace”.