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World not interested to stop war on Yemen: Academic

Yemenis inspect the ruins of a market targeted in a Saudi airstrike in the capital, Sana'a, July 20, 2015. (© AFP)

Press TV has interviewed Nabil Mikhail, a professor at the George Washington University, in Washington, to discuss Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military campaign against Yemen.

Following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: As this war on Yemen continues by the Saudis and this “coalition,” why is it do you think that the international community is allowing this to continue at this pace?

Mikhail: For one, there is no deep interest about Yemen on the part of many big countries.

Also there was the question of negotiations with Iran over its nuclear deal and everyone hopes that Iran will be a positive force in Yemen. This is an important geopolitical area but not much attention has been given to it.

So much of the deaths has been reported but little action has taken place and also there is no international effort to stop the fight. As a matter of fact, even Russia to some extent allowed the fighting to go on.

The question is ‘will there be change in Yemen? For how long it will be ignored?’ I totally agree with you. Not too many people paid attention to Yemen; the focus is on Libya, Syria, Iraq, the Arab-Israeli conflict and not the least, the question about Iran’s nuclear file.

So the question is ‘will be there be renewed effort to resolve the crisis in Yemen?’ Because for sure, there has been an element of miscalculation; the war did not end soon, it is going on. There are many people who are predominant and preponderant in the Yemen conflict and the tide is for them but the war has not ended soon as expected.

Press TV: Professor, as you rightly said, people are not at this point concentrating on Yemen but should they be? Because, there is so many things in Yemen which are important. Firstly the strategic location for example of the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait, the presence of al-Qaeda in the country, etc. How do you feel about that?

Mikhail: This is a good question considering that President Obama is paying attention now to Africa and he is in Africa right now or he will be there in few hours, he is in Ethiopia or is going to be in Ethiopia. What is across the other side of the sea? What is across the Red Sea from Ethiopia? It is Yemen! So this is something that should renew Obama’s interest in Yemen.

Egypt plans a big expansion in the Suez Canal. How do ships enter the Red Sea and the Suez Canal expanded or at its current size? Through Bab-el-Mandeb or through the southern gate of Yemen.

Also we are talking about the Sultanate of Oman as a country that helped mediate the conflict between Iran and the group of six; Yemen shares long borders with the Sultanate Oman. So if you stabilize Yemen, you stabilize a lot of countries. You stabilize a lot of areas and you heal the rift among different Islamic denominations. You also renew the hope to fight poverty because the biggest enemy in Yemen is poverty.

Health is totally inadequate for a big population; how can you feed 25 million people? I mean the world doesn’t look even concerned about Yemen as a humanitarian crisis, not just a strategic issue.

So definitely, we hope that Yemen could be the next arena for good cooperation between Iran, Saudis and all the Muslims and the major countries in the Security Council and the UN.


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