For several weeks now, the W.H.O. has been reporting daily, that there are no confirmed COVID-19 cases in Yemen.  Most people in Yemen, who are watching this virus spread around the world like a wildfire, bringing the most developed countries down to their knees, have all realized it was only a matter of time before the virus reached Yemen.

Amidst an already collapsed healthcare system, in a fractured country where local authorities are failing to provide basic necessities such as security, food, and clean water, Yemenis now fear the worst.  Since the first case of COVID-19 has now been confirmed, everyone inside and outside Yemen knows that the spread of COVID-19 throughout the country is inevitable.

Yemenis know that neither they nor their country is ready to deal with and fight this deadly and vicious virus, especially since they know that most preventive measures that have proven to be effective elsewhere are difficult to implement in a poor country like Yemen where most national institutions are paralyzed. Their fear is magnified daily by the continuing conflict and armed clashes and battles raging throughout the country, and the failure of the warring parties to address the people’s demands to normalize their lives and bring peace and security.

The international community has also been calling for a cessation of hostility to focus all efforts to fight a common deadly enemy that will kill without consideration of people’s political affiliations, views, or geography. Despite the latest efforts, and the announcement of the Coalition forces to stop all military operations in Yemen starting last Thursday, April 9th, fierce battles continue across multiple fronts in the country.  In these challenging and unprecedented times, the people of Yemen find themselves again fighting a battle that they did not provoke or choose. They again see themselves abandoned and let down by their own leaders, the regional powers, and the international community.

Winning the battle against COVID-19 in Yemen amid the continuing conflict is simply mission impossible. Therefore, a ceasefire is necessary to protect against the spread of COVID-19 and to focus the efforts on a common enemy that threatens all.

Previous attempts to negotiate a ceasefire in Yemen have failed because each side fears their opponent will use the ceasefire to achieve tactical military gains. After five years of endless war, the lesson everyone has learned is there is no military solution for the conflict in Yemen and none of the warring parties can achieve a decisive enough victory to end it. Therefore, implementing a ceasefire to help the country properly prepare for handling a potential COVID-19 outbreak and allowing aid agencies to freely operate and serve the millions in need, will neither change the balance of power nor the course of the conflict

Instead, the hope is, to provide the conflicting parties, intermediaries, and the embedded international community; an opportunity to exercise serious pressure, support confidence-building measures, and lead the negotiations to end this misery for the Yemeni people so they can resume building their country and their lives.

The battle against COVID-19 is not a battle any party can afford to lose, and it certainly is not a battle that one party can celebrate winning while allowing the other side to lose. For once, we can only win together or lose together.

Yemenis are now worried about COVID-19, but they have been living with the devastation of war, a cholera outbreak, and famine for over five years, and they desperately need the international community to put its full weight and pressure to work and push each party to bring this war to an end. The United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Kuwait can exercise their powers, and accept the compromises necessary to create the conditions necessary to help ensure the country’s readiness to face this deadly virus.

COVID-19 is similar to war in that both have a countable number of casualties, but in Yemen, the magnitude of direct and collateral damage could make those combined numbers pale in comparison.  Consequently, the urgency to end the conflict, provide desperately needed aid for Yemenis, and empower the country to face today’s overwhelming challenges, is a moral and ethical responsibility that all shareholders need to equally bare.