Reps Call on Biden and Blinken
To End Saudi Blockade on Yemen

Hon. Debbie Dingell and Hon. Mark Pocan / US House of Representatives

Dear Colleague,

We are urging the Biden Administration to use the full weight of U.S. diplomatic resources and leverage with the Saudi regime to lift the blockade of Yemen’s ports and support diplomatic engagement on addressing other critical needs contributing to the humanitarian crisis in the country.

Numerous organizations, including the World Bank and Save the Children, have reported that the Saudi blockade of Yemen has significantly contributed to rising food prices and hampered access to clean drinking water, humanitarian aid, and life-saving medical services. While the current negotiated truce has alleviated some of these pressures, it remains seriously limited in mitigating the worst impacts of the blockage, with current deliveries of fuel amounting to just 40 percent of the country’s humanitarian fuel needs.

The UN Development Program estimated in 2021 that more than 370,000 people had already died as a result of the war, with 60 percent of deaths resulting from indirect causes such as lack of food, water, and healthcare. CNN reported on August 9, 2022 that: “The bombs have stopped but preventable deaths in Yemen won’t end until the blockade is fully lifted and the war-fueled economic collapse is reversed.”

Please join us in calling on the Biden Administration to continue to pressure Saudi Arabia to lift unnecessary restrictions on commercial trade, travel, and other actions that harm the prospects for humanitarian relief and peace in Yemen. Given the outsized human impact of this conflict, it is vital that this position remain a priority for the Administration.

Endorsements: Demand Progress Educational Fund, Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL), Just Foreign Policy, Yemeni Alliance Committee, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation  

THE LETTER

Dear Secretary Blinken,

We write to express our gratitude for the administration’s ongoing attention to the conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen, including support for United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg’s efforts to secure unprecedented truce agreements between the de-facto authorities (DFA) in the capital Sana’a, and Yemen’s “Presidential Leadership Council” (PLC).

In light of the fragility of the truce and the critical importance of mitigating Yemen’s deep humanitarian catastrophe, we urge you to maintain pressure on the Saudi-led coalition to eliminate unnecessary restrictions on commercial trade, travel, or other actions that harm the prospects for humanitarian relief and peace in Yemen.

The World Bank and Save the Children have reported that the blockade has significantly contributed to rising food prices and hampered access to clean drinking water, humanitarian aid, and life-saving medical services.  The current negotiated truce has led to measurable progress in alleviating the Saudi-led coalition’s widely-criticized blockade on Yemen.

According to Grundberg, under the first 4.5 months of the truce, the Saudi-led coalition allowed in nearly one million metric tons of fuel and has permitted the use of Sana’a International Airport for commercial flights for the first time since 2016, with the latest UN figures indicating that 41 flights and more than 20,000 Yemenis have been able to fly in and out of the nation’s capital.

However, these early steps to mitigate the worst excesses of the Saudi-led coalition’s blockade remain woefully inadequate in the face of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, and are in danger of being reversed if the truce is not extended and expanded. The delivery of nearly one million metric tons of fuel amounted to just 40 percent of Yemen’s humanitarian fuel needs during the truce period.

These increased imports come after the Saudi-led coalition only permitted just 470,000 metric tons of fuel to be imported during all of 2021  — just 7 percent of Yemen’s fuel needs — and even lower levels of fuel imports in the first quarter of 2022.   While the increased fuel imports contributed to an initial decline in food and fuel prices from record highs, food prices again surged to near-record levels in July, with fuel prices doubling year-on-year in the south and increasing significantly in the north, according to the World Food Programme.

The price of basic foods increased by up to 45 percent between March and June 2021, leading the proportion of households lacking access to adequate food to increase to over 50 percent in both DFA and PRC administered areas.   Currently, 17.4 million people are food insecure — a number projected to rise to as many as 19 million by December — with acute malnutrition afflicting 2.7 million children under age five and 1.3 million pregnant and lactating women.

The UN Development Program estimated in 2021 that more than 370,000 people had already died as a result of the war, with 60 percent of deaths resulting from indirect causes such as lack of food, water, and healthcare.   As CNN reported on August 9, 2022: “The bombs have stopped but preventable deaths in Yemen won’t end until the blockade is fully lifted and the war-fueled economic collapse is reversed.”

Restrictions on humanitarian and commercial imports continue to contribute to the dire situation in the country. Numerous Members of Congress, including members of both parties, have called on the Administration to publicly pressure Saudi Arabia to lift the blockade in Yemen and decouple it from broader political negotiations, citing humanitarian concerns and the need to de-escalate the conflict.  Given the outsized human impact of this conflict, it is vital that this position remain a priority for the Administration.

Lifting the blockade on Yemen’s ports will advance the efforts by UN Envoy Grundberg to achieve an expanded truce agreement that will secure the regular payment of civil servant salaries and civilian pensions, increased destinations for flights from Sana’a, and agreements to open additional important roads.

We urge your administration to continue to support diplomatic engagement to achieve a joint negotiated agreement to open vital roads that will alleviate the humanitarian crisis.  We are also concerned that the truce terms including flights to two different locations have not been fulfilled, and we ask that you either press the government of Egypt to permit flights from Yemen, or to work diplomatically to find additional destinations for Yemenis flying from the capital Sana’a.

Progress towards an expanded truce agreement is increasingly urgent, with the PLC reportedly suspending its participation in U.N.-brokered talks after clashes east of Taiz led to the deaths of 10 PLC troops and 23 DFA troops.

We are also concerned about reports of attacks by UAE-backed forces against forces affiliated with the PLC in Shabwa, as well as renewed allegations that UAE-backed forces are incorporating al-Qaeda fighters into their ranks.  Recent infighting initiated by UAE-backed forces has led experts to express concerns that the DFA may win the war without the negotiated solution that Yemen so desperately needs.

Accordingly, we respectfully request that you use US leverage and relationships with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen’s PLC to fully lift the blockade — decoupled from the larger conflict — and maintain unity that will best support efforts towards an expanded truce, and ultimately, the end to the Saudi-led war in Yemen through a sustainable, inclusive peace in the country.

We urge you to make clear to the Saudi-led coalition that bicameral war powers resolutions have been introduced and that Congress will not hesitate to act in support of the administration policy of ending support for offensive military operations by statutorily prohibiting US participation in any renewed airstrikes or other military action inside of Yemen.

Thank you again for the Administration’s attention to this issue and for your consideration of this important request.

Sincerely,

Debbie Dingell and Mark Pocan,
Members of Congress