To Bring Reconciliation with God
Yemeni Refugees Facing a Hunger Crisis
The Yemeni civil war began in September 2014 when the Houthi forces, a Shiite Islamic group from the northern region, seized control of the capital, Sana. The conflict quickly spread throughout the country. A coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes in an attempt to restore the former Yemeni government. Although Iran did not intervene directly in support of the Houthi rebels, the conflict is widely seen as part of the ongoing power struggle between Iran (Shiite) and Saudi Arabia (Sunni).
The Houthi rebels now control most of northern Yemen, except for Sana and the Marib region. They continue to clash with pro-government forces backed by Saudi Arabia. On April 2, 2022, the United Nations brokered a two-month ceasefire between the warring parties in Yemen, which lasted until October. However, no further peace negotiations have taken place since then.
Humanitarian Crisis Due to War and Famine
More than 150,000 people have been killed in the civil war, and an additional 227,000 have reportedly died due to famine and a lack of medical facilities. Over the past eight years of war, more than 4 million people have been displaced from their homes, and over 20 million people are in urgent need of humanitarian aid.
More than half of Yemen’s healthcare facilities have been shut down or destroyed. Years of economic collapse and paralyzed government have pushed the country into severe famine. Around 50,000 people are currently living in extreme starvation, and in 2022, an additional 5 million people faced life-threatening hunger.
Internally displaced Yemenis are at the highest risk of starvation. Out of 4 million displaced people, approximately 2.6 million are facing life-threatening food shortages. Studies indicate that refugee families are four times more likely to experience famine than the general Yemeni population. Their situation has worsened due to the spread of preventable diseases such as COVID-19, cholera, diphtheria, measles, and dengue fever.
Yemen Hosting Refugees Despite Its Own Crisis
Despite experiencing severe conflict itself, Yemen has taken in 137,000 refugees and asylum seekers from Somalia and Ethiopia, making it the second-largest host of Somali refugees in the world. In just the first half of 2021, approximately 41,000 new refugees fled from Yemen.
One in four Yemeni refugee households is headed by a girl under the age of 18, and around 66% of internally displaced Yemenis live in extremely dangerous conditions due to severe food shortages and a lack of basic services.
The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that more than 16 million people will remain trapped in hunger this year, with hundreds of thousands already living in extreme famine. Previously, humanitarian aid in Yemen was able to support around 14 million people per month, but due to declining donations, that number has now dropped to about 10 million per month.
》Scripture Prayer
Ephesians 2:11-22(NIV)
11 Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)—
12 remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.
13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
14 For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility,
15 by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace,
16 and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility.
17 He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near.
18 For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.
19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,
20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone.
21 In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.
22 And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
》Pray that the Word may become the Conclusion.
1. Let us pray that churches around the world, with God’s love, will care for the Yemenis facing a hunger crisis, supply their needs, and share the gospel so that they may be built together as God’s dwelling in Christ Jesus.
2. Let us pray that Jesus, the Prince of Peace, will reign over the government and the Houthi rebels to bring peace to this land, as eternal reconciliation can only be achieved through Him. Let us also pray that the greed and evil of Iran, the Shia stronghold, Saudi Arabia, the Sunni stronghold, and neighboring countries will be removed. Let us earnestly ask that the peace, which political leaders and Islam cannot give to the people of Yemen, be accomplished in God through Jesus Christ, who has torn down the dividing wall with the cross.
3. God has already accomplished peace, rest, reconciliation, and unity—things the Yemenis have never experienced—by having Jesus Christ die on the cross 2,000 years ago. As war, disaster, poverty, hunger, and disease cover Yemen and the Middle Eastern nations in death, let us remember the missionaries and churches who have wept and sown seeds for them. Now, let us pray that the Yemenis will become a church built on the foundation of the apostles, prophets, and missionaries, so that the Kingdom of God may be revived.
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