也門正面臨本世紀最大饑荒

Famine has killed at least 105m people since 1870, according to research conducted by the World Peace Foundation. The vast majority were victims of political decisions and acts of war rather than drought. But by the turn of the millennium such man-made disaster had diminished to the extent that experts in the field, such as the UK academic and writer Alex de Waal, felt mass starvation might be a thing of the past.

根據世界和平基金會(World Peace Foundation)的調查，自1870年以來，饑荒已至少造成1.05億人死亡，其中大多數人死於政治決定和戰爭行爲造成的饑荒，而非乾旱造成的饑荒。但到了世紀之交，這種人爲災難已經大大減少，以至該領域的專家——如英國學者兼作家亞歷克斯?德瓦爾(Alex de Waal)——認爲，大規模饑荒可能已成爲過去。

This year that progress has dramatically reversed. The renewed use of starvation as a weapon of war is threatening millions of lives in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. The situation in Yemen is the most catastrophic.

今年這一進展出現了重大倒退。饑荒作爲一個戰爭武器的重新啓用，正威脅着尼日利亞、南蘇丹、索馬里和也門的無數條生命。其中也門的情況是最具災難性的。

The conflict there descended into a new circle of hell after Saudi Arabia committed its air force to defeating Houthi rebels in March 2015. In the process, roads, bridges and markets have been destroyed, the container docks at the port of al-Hudaida were bombed, and other infrastructure ruined. At Riyadh’s insistence and with the backing of Britain and the US, the UN Security Council imposed a blockade on the country.

在沙特阿拉伯於2015年3月投入空軍打擊胡塞叛軍之後，也門的衝突陷入新一輪地獄。在這一過程中，道路、橋樑和集市遭到破壞，荷臺達(al-Hudaida)港口的集裝箱碼頭遭到轟炸，其他基礎設施也被毀。在利雅得的堅持以及英美的支持下，聯合國安理會(UN Security Council)對也門實施了封鎖。

Its purpose is to prevent weapons reaching the rebels and in theory food is exempted. In practice, laborious inspection procedures mean food is reaching hungry mouths fatally slowly. And that was before a recent decision by Saudi Arabia to block humanitarian aid in retaliation for a missile fired at Riyadh earlier this month.

封鎖的目的是阻止叛軍獲得武器，理論上食物不在封鎖範圍之內。但在實踐中，繁瑣的檢查程序意味着饑民獲得食物的速度慢到致命的程度。這還是之前的情況，最近沙特決定封鎖人道主義援助，以報復本月早些時候一枚飛往利雅得的導彈。

The consequences are terrifying. The UN says two-thirds of Yemen’s 28m population face shortages of food and clean water. A staggering 7m are now on the brink of famine. A cholera epidemic is raging. The war itself has claimed an estimated 10,000 people. But as was the case in most of the worst 20th-century conflicts, starvation is certain to be a greater killer. Mark Lowcock, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, last week said the continued closure of borders to aid shipments would threaten “the largest famine the world has seen for many decades”. The blockade, which Saudi Arabia appears to have partially lifted at the weekend, is tantamount to a war crime. And Riyadh’s allies should be wary of complicity.

其後果是可怕的。聯合國稱也門2800萬人口中有三分??之二面臨食物和清潔飲用水短缺。現在面臨饑荒的人數高達700萬。霍亂疫情正在肆虐。戰爭本身據估計造成1萬人死亡。但是與20世紀絕大多數最嚴重衝突的情況一樣，飢餓肯定將導致更多人死亡。聯合國負責人道主義事務的副祕書長馬克?洛考克(Mark Lowcock)日前表示，繼續封鎖救援物資可能導致“數十年來全球最大饑荒”。這場封鎖——不久前沙特似乎部分解除了封鎖——無異於戰爭罪行。利雅得的盟友應該當心成爲幫兇。

Before he was forced to resign last month over allegations of sexual harassment, Sir Michael Fallon, then the UK’s defence secretary, begged MPs to cease all criticism of the kingdom. This risked jeopardising BAE Systems’ ￡4bn deal to sell the kingdom fighter jets, he said. Sir Michael showed similar blindness about what is morally acceptable in his public evidence to the defence committee. He is gone. But sadly, his posture reflected that of a government which in its dealings with Saudi Arabia treats human rights as little more than a commercial inconvenience.

時任英國國防大臣的邁克爾?法倫爵士(Sir Michael Fallon)在上個月因性騷擾指控而被迫辭職前，曾懇求國會議員停止對沙特的一切批評。他稱，這些批評可能危及BAE系統公司(BAE Systems)向沙特出售戰鬥機的40億英鎊大單。在向國防委員會的證言中，法倫也表現出了對道德底線的類似漠視。他離開了。但可悲的是，他的立場反映出英國政府在與沙特打交道時只是把人權問題當做妨礙貿易的一個因素。

Donald Trump’s administration has been more craven still in encouraging Saudi Arabian over-reach. Washington’s silence over the tragedy unfolding in Yemen is as deafening as it is strategically misguided. The intervention in Yemen was supposed to mark the arrival of a more assertive Saudi Arabia, rallying Sunni and other allies to counter Iranian, and Shia, influence. Instead, Saudi forces have proved as ineffectual as they are brutish. Even before Iran was actively involved, Riyadh was unable to defeat the rag-tag rebels. There is little sign they are any closer now.

特朗普(Trump)政府甚至更加怯懦的立場，鼓勵了沙特的過分行爲。美國政府對正在也門上演的這場悲劇的沉默不僅令人難以忍受，在戰略上也是極其錯誤的。沙特對也門的干涉本應該標誌着沙特以更加堅定自信的姿態出現在世人面前，聯合遜尼派和其他盟友一起對抗伊朗和什葉派勢力。相反，沙特部隊被證明既沒用又殘暴。即使在伊朗積極參與進來前，沙特也沒能打敗烏合之衆的叛軍。眼下也沒有什麼跡象顯示沙特距離勝利更近了。

There is also little doubt that without a change of heart in Riyadh, Yemenis will starve on a scale the 21st century has yet to see. In such circumstances, the US and Britain would be found guilty of complicity in crimes committed in the name of Saudi hubris.

此外，毫無疑問的是，如果沙特不改變心意，也門人將遭受21世紀以來最嚴重的饑荒。在這種局面下，美國和英國會是沙特的自大所犯下罪行的幫兇。