India and Japan sign nuclear deal - A risky business?

• Author Kiyo Dörrer

The leaders of the two countries have signed a civilian nuclear cooperation, allowing exports of crucial Japanese technology to fuel India's growing economy. But concerns remain about India's non-proliferation status.

The Indo-Japanese nuclear deal has been six years in the making, and was officially signed by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in Tokyo on Friday.

The deal marks Japan's first nuclear cooperation agreement with a country that is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The NPT is an international treaty meant to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons and arms technologies, while promoting the peaceful use of nuclear energy. India refuses to sign it, saying it is discriminatory because it defines nuclear-weapons states as those that tested nuclear devices before 1967.

The nuclear deal between Asia's second and third largest economies has been described by the two countries as "a new level of mutual confidence and strategic partnership for the cause of a peaceful and secure world."

Mutual benefits

Supporters of the impending deal say it is a win-win situation for both Tokyo and New Delhi. India will be able to feed its energy-hungry economy with emission-free energy, whereas Japan opens up new business opportunities for its nuclear sector.

Japan's cutting-edge nuclear technology is considered crucial for India's massive economic growth. Japan has a monopoly in the manufacturing of reactor safety components and power plant domes - key parts that India needs to enable its nuclear cooperation programs with the US and other countries.

The deal would allow Japan's struggling nuclear industry access to the growing Indian market, which is estimated to be worth $150 billion. This would be a great opportunity for Japanese nuclear companies that have suffered greatly since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident.

India's similar civil nuclear deals with South Korea and the US "have boosted bilateral relations," Smruti Pattanaik, a research fellow at the New Delhi-based Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, told DW.

India is not a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty

Between economics and disarmament

But concerns remain about India's potential misuse of the technology for developing more nuclear weapons. The Japanese people have long been apprehensive about the deal with India due to its nuclear weapons program.

"The Japanese government has softened its stance for the sake of economic benefits," Akira Kawasaki of Tokyo-based Peace Boat organization, told DW. "The deal grants the same rights de-facto to India as other nuclear powers that have signed the NPT."

The shift in Japan's nuclear cooperation policy with India started in 2008, when the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) granted a waiver to New Delhi to push through a civil nuclear agreement with Washington. NSG - a 48-nation grouping that includes the US, Russia, Britain, France and Japan - controls the export of nuclear technology and materials to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.

"By giving India a special status, Japan has compromised its formerly rigid stance on the NPT," underlined Kawasaki. "The Japanese-Indian deal is a significant step away from Japan's symbolic role as a strong advocate of nuclear disarmament."

Japanese nuclear companies have suffered greatly since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident

Suspicions and assurances

The concerns about India using Japanese nuclear technology for military purposes hinges on details in the agreement that are yet to be disclosed. "There are several crucial outstanding issues that have not been resolved," Toby Dalton, an expert on non-proliferation and nuclear energy at the Washington-based think tank Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told DW.

First, there is the question on whether or not India would be able to reprocess the nuclear fuel. To ensure that this does not happen, India has to give legally-binding assurances to the NSG and allow the tracking of nuclear material that it will use for its civilian program.

The second question is what happens if India carries out additional nuclear tests. The Japanese newspaper Yomiuri Shinbun reported on Sunday, November 5, that Japan will halt cooperation with New Delhi if the South Asian country conducts another nuclear test. The opt-out clause, according to the newspaper, will not be included in the agreement itself, but in a separate memorandum.

Experts say that China's rising power is forcing Japan and India to forge closer ties

India signed a unilateral moratorium on nuclear tests after it last detonated a bomb in 1998, but the country is still not a signatory to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty. "This lack of adherence and transparency undermines the confidence-building system for non-proliferation that has been constructed over the past 50 years," argued Dalton.

Lastly, the question of liability in the case of an accident at a Japanese-supported nuclear plant remains unresolved.

Advocates of the treaty point out that India has already signed similar nuclear agreements with NSG members. Also, many Indian experts believe that the chances of India conducting another atomic test are slim. "Considering the fact that India is aspiring for a larger global role, there is no way New Delhi would want to divert from its self-imposed moratorium," said Pattanaik. "For India, there is no need to increase its nuclear arsenal as it has a stable deterrent put in place."

Afghan Women Limited to Education and Healthcare Roles

By IWPR Afghanistan

Local government officials in Laghman province need to actively recruit female staff to redress the enormous gender imbalance in state institutions, a debate organized by IWPR has heard.

Mohebullah Sorkhrodi, from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), told the event that 7,431 people were employed in Laghman’s government offices.

Women filled only 527 of these positions, all in the fields of education and healthcare.

Sorkhrodi said that the government needed to take positive steps to change this, adding, “Our commission has always tried to give female candidates special opportunities during the recruitment process, such as allocating some posts which can only be filled by women.”

Debate participant Dil Aqa, a local activist, said that it was unacceptable that women were only working in the fields of education and healthcare.

Sorkhrodi noted that this situation also reflected social realities.

"Women are more interested in working in the field of education than in other areas, because their families allow them to work in education,” he said.

Laghman director of women's affairs Nasima Sadat Shafiq called for public awareness campaigns to encourage women to work outside the home.

She also noted that low literacy levels also excluded women from public sector jobs. Girls had little access to education in much of the province, she said.

Hashima Sharif, of the Independent Administrative Reform and Civil Service Commission of Afghanistan (IARCSC), said that corruption and intimidation were also major factors preventing women from finding jobs.

She gave a number of examples from her own experience, explaining that she had received numerous death threats from powerful individuals in the course of her work.

In another instance, Sharif continued, "I wanted to take the exam for a post in Nangarhar province, but I was not able to even obtain the application form, because a person who had connections had already been appointed to the post."

Laghman’s director of capacity building, Hafizullah Asad, said that even educated women were affected by conservative Afghan traditions that frowned on women working outside the home.

“This problem is much worse in the districts than in the centre [of Laghman], but we have tried our best despite all these problems to increase the presence of women in government offices," he said.

One problem he identified was that provincial government officials were unable to directly appoint people to more senior management positions. If these powers were extended, Asad said that he would be able to actively work to redress the gender imbalance.

http://reliefweb.int/report/afghanistan/afghan-women-limited-education-and-healthcare-roles

Iconic Buddha statue in Pakistan restored years after Taliban defaced it

An iconic 7th-century Buddha statue in Pakistan’s Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province, which was defaced by the Taliban nine years ago has finally been restored to its original form by a team of Italian archeologists, it was reported on Monday.

The Italian Archaeological Mission in Pakistan, helped along by the locals of Jahanabad in Swat district, was able to undo the damage inflicted by the Taliban militants in September 2007 after four years of hard work, the Geo News reported.

“It was our professional and moral obligation toward the people and heritage of Swat and Pakistan which forced us to restore the Buddha. It took about five missions of about a month each from 2012-2016 in its complete conservation program,” said head of the Italian Archaeological Mission, Luca Maria Olivieri, adding that international experts worked on the restoration process.

The militants had blown up the iconic statue’s face by inserting explosives and damaged the shoulders and torso by drilling holes into the structure. The act had sparked worldwide ire, especially among the Buddhist community, historians and archaeologists.

The Italian team started restoration work on the Buddha in 2012, employing latest 3D technology and restoration and 3D experts.

The meditative Buddha statue, dating back to 7th century, is considered to be the biggest such structure carved in stone in South Asia.

Towering at 21 feet long and 12 feet wide, the statue is an icon of the Gandhara art – a style of Buddhist visual art that developed in what is now northwestern Pakistan and eastern Afghanistan between the 1st century BCE and the 7th century CE.

There are around 20 sites in the Swat valley with ancient historical significance.

The statue at one time drew a large number of tourists to the Valley, including Tibetan pilgrims and archaeology enthusiasts. It is now hoped the restored Buddha statue would once again be able to attract people from all over the world as well as from other parts of Pakistan.

http://indianexpress.com/article/lifestyle/art-and-culture/iconic-buddha-statue-in-pakistan-restored-years-after-taliban-defaced-it-4375478/

BILAWAL BHUTTO’S MESSAGE ON WORLD DIABETES DAY

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has issued a country-wide alert against rising number of diabetes and urged the people to play their individual and collective role for creating awareness against the disease to stop its uncontrolled spread.

In his message on the World Diabetes Day being observed across the globe today, the PPP Chairman said that he was greatly concerned over the figures showing that 8% of Pakistanis have turned victim of this deadly disease taking heavy toll.

“This is shocking that 90,000 Pakistanis are dying annually due to diabetes and number of the patients was on the constant rise from seven million people already affected,” he added.
PPP Chairman said that a healthy diet, continuous exercise and effective healthcare were key steps for saving more people falling to diabetes.

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/bilawal-bhuttos-message-on-world-diabetes-day/

BILAWAL BHUTTO SHOCKED AT JEHANGIR BADR’S DEATH, THREE-DAY MOURNING ANNOUNCED

Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has expressed shock and pain over the sad demise of Party’s senior leader and former Secretary General Jehangir Badr and paid him glowing tributes for his unshakable loyalty, commitment and conviction to Bhuttoism for his whole life. PPP Chairman announced three-day mourning on the death of Jehangir Badr and cancelled all his engagements.

“I am shocked to hear the sad news. Rest in peace Uncle Jehangir Badr. I had never imagined taking this journey without you. Inshallah, we will make you proud. Jiye Bhutto,” PPP Chairman tweeted on the social media the moment he heard the news.

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shocked to hear the sad news. RIP Uncle JB. never imagined taking this journey without you. Inshallah we will make you proud. #JiyaBhutto

3:44 PM - 13 Nov 2016

 
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Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said that Jehangir Badr was a Jiyala par excellence who fought against ruthless martial laws from the forefront, braved imprisonments and torture but stood steadfast and committed to Bhuttoism under Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and entire decades of Party’s struggle till todate.torture but stood steadfast and committed to Bhuttoism under Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto and entire decades of Party’s struggle till todate.

PPP Chairman announced that the Party will observe a 3-day mourning over the sad demise of Jehangir Badr all over the country.

He expressed sympathies with the members of bereaved family and all the Jiyalas adding that Jehangir Badr will continue to illuminate in our memories as a brave Party leader, worker and a tall symbol of loyalty to Bhuttoism and democracy.

https://ppppunjab.wordpress.com/2016/11/14/bilawal-bhutto-shocked-at-jehangir-badrs-death-three-day-mourning-announced/

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UN bribed to turn blind eye to Saudi rights violations: Analyst

The United Nations Human Rights Council recently renewed Saudi Arabia’s membership. The decision drew widespread criticism in light of the kingdom’s extensive human rights violations both inside and outside the Arab country. The move comes in spite of the fact that Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both severely censured Saudi Arabia for committing war crimes in neighboring Yemen. Press TV has interviewed two analysts for its program 'The Debate' to get their opinions on the United Nations' latest controversy.

Political commentator, Scott Bennett, criticized the United Nations for neglecting war crimes and other human rights violations committed by Saudi Arabia. “The United Nations is assuming a posture of complete complicity with Saudi Arabia’s inhuman tyrannical war crimes, human rights [violations], suffering, slavery and religious persecution.”

He noted, “The United Nations is as guilty as its member state (Saudi Arabia) by not stopping it and by not objecting to it.”

Commenting on why he thinks the UN has failed to properly address Saudi crimes both within and outside the country, he stated, “The United Nations is demonstrating itself as [a] political prostitute. They (UN officials) are serving their masters and that is the American money, the Israeli money and the Saudi Arabian money through bribes.”

According to the commentator, “The United Nations is in social and political breakdown without any genuine authority or legitimacy. Because they (UN officials) are the puppets and they are the tools of the United States, Israel, Mossad, the United Kingdom and France.”

Giving his reasons as to why the Riyadh regime is not qualified to have a seat on the UNHRC or any other human rights organizations, he cited the kingdom's lack of respect for the fundamental rights of freedom of expression and of religion, as stipulated in the 1948 Human Rights Declaration, which sets the foundation for the United Nations.

“The Saudi Arabian activities, politics, laws and regulations that are grossly inhuman against women, violating of women, violating of journalists and violating of freedom go without question,” Bennett said, adding that the United Nations has been bribed to turn a blind eye to the Saudi misconducts.

The analyst also pointed to Saudi Arabia’s continued support for terrorists as another reason why it is not entitled to a seat on the UN rights council.

Bennett recalled that during the time when he used to serve in the US Central Command, reports were handed over to the State Department and Congress on Saudi Arabia financing terror cells through its Swiss bank accounts, which were totally ignored by American authorities. He also referred to the Clinton Foundation as a big money-laundering entity that the Saudis and the Qataris were using to finance terrorism and Wahhabi extremism in Libya and Syria.  

“The Saudi Arabians are completely disqualified for any participation, God forbid, any leadership in the United Nations. Because it (the Saudi regime) persecutes anyone who religiously pursues any other religious expression, be it Christian, be it Shia, be it Yazidi, be it Buddhist and be it any religion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Lawrence J. Korb, a US foreign policy and national security analyst opposed the argument that the United Nations and the Human Rights Council were being run by the United States and stated, “It is not the United States that’s deciding who gets on this council. We only have one vote.”

Korb also touched upon the Saudi war on Yemen. “There is no doubt about the fact that they are involved in a war in Yemen and they have made mistakes. But it’s not a war of aggression,” he said arguing that Saudi Arabia is seeking to help the Yemeni "government" take back power. He was making a reference to Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi who resigned as Yemen's president and fled the capital Sana'a.

Saudi Arabia has a long history of violating the rights of women and minorities and even support for the Takfiri mercenaries who are wreaking havoc in the Middle East and North African. But the United Nations has refused to suspend the regime’s membership over such behavior.

http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/10/31/491439/UNHRC-Saudi-Arabia-US-Bennett-Korb

Where are UN Calls for Regime Change in Saudi Arabia? Barbaric Punishment of 1000 Lashes Continues

By Carla Stea

Saudi Arabia’s “election to the UN Human Rights Council” Disgraces the United Nations

It is clear that Saudi Arabia’s ability to bribe and blackmail the highest United Nations officials, including, by his own admission, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, makes a mockery of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and of the United Nations itself. 

It is a disgrace that. after blackmailing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and bullying him into removing Saudi Arabia from the “ list of shame” for mass slaughter of civilians in Yemen,  and Saudi Arabia’s egregious and flagrant violation of Articles 5 and Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human rights, as well as  its violation of the Universal  Convention on the Prohibition of Torture, Saudi Arabia, nevertheless, has been permitted to bribe and bully its way  on to a seat on the Human Rights Council.  This transpired last week despite Saudi Arabia’s heinous violations of human rights, both domestically and internationally.   Saudi Arabia should, instead be referred to the International Criminal Court for the tyrannical and barbarous practices of its regime, one of the most notorious in modern history.

As the precedent of referring countries to the Security Council for alleged gross human rights abuses has been established, the case of Saudi Arabia should be “seized” by the UN Security Council, for referral  to the International  Criminal Court.  Why is the United Nations totally impotent in prohibiting  or sanctioning Saudi Arabia’s gross human rights violations?  Why is the UN failing to effectively protect Saudi journalist Raif Badawi, sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for criticizing the notorious Saudi tyranny, and the country’s infamous hardline religious establishment which inflicts barbarous Sharia law?  The torture of Badawi, the excruciating torture of 1000 lashes, in addition to 10 years imprisonment is the most obvious example of systemic and egregious Saudi human rights violations.  According to Dr. John Hayward, the doctor who evaluates torture victims for the organization “Freedom From Torture, the torture inflicted on Badawi and innumerable others not only causes depression and can precipitate suicide, but causes the trans-generational trauma which will inflict agonizing suffering on his wife and three children, and their decendants.

While there are loud calls for regime change in Syria, where are calls for regime change in Saudi Arabia?  Why has the UN not prohibited Sharia law, which condemned a 12 year old girl to death by stoning  in Somalia for refusing a forced marriage?

Where is the line between religious “freedom” and colluding in the tortures and massacres inflicted by religion, from the Crusades to the Inquisition, to the Sharia torture of Badawi?  Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states:  “No one shall be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment.”  Article 19 states:  “Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression;  this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.”  Raif Badawi is the victim of criminal infringement of these rights.

Saudi Arabia is the most notorious example of the monstrous hyprocrisy denounced by the great philosopher, Freidrich Nietzsche, who, in abhorring religion, exposed the duplicity of religious leaders who inflict sadistic rules on their subjects, the very restrictions which they themselves flagrantly ignore.  Nietzsche’s “The Geneology of Morals” is the ultimate scathing condemnation of this hypocrisy.

The culpability of Saudi Arabia was highlighted in a 1980 documentary entitled: “The Death of a Princess,” which exposed the licentious behavior indulged in by the Saudi royal family.  The documentary filmed and revealed the Saudi monarchy’s depravity, in which the Royal males are notorious for having harems, while their pampered wives cruise the streets in limosines and recruit men whom they fancy for amusing sexual adventures.  This very same Saudi monarchy pronounced the death sentence, by beheading, of a Saudi Princess who fell in love with a student, not of royal birth, and married him.  Both she and her husband were beheaded.  The famous documentary was produced by the British, who coveted Saudi oil, and, cowering before Saudi threats to cut off their oil supply,  immediately withdrew presentation of this documentary which revealed the degeneracy and extreme cruelty of the Saudi monarchy and the entire system.

Where are UN calls for Regime Change in Saudi Arabia?  Since the UN Security Council authorized the destruction of two of the most progressive states in the Arab world, Iraq and Libya.  where is UN Security Council authorization for regime change in one of the most corrupt and oppressive regimes in the Arab world?   Where is the “Responsibility to Protect” (R2P) boasted about by the United  Nations, and why is this “Responsibility to Protect” not extended to Saudi journalist Raif Badawi, demanding that the 1000 last punishment inflicted by Saudi Arabia be overturned?  Does Saudi Arabia control the United Nations?

As an ally of the United States, under US protection, a strong case could be made that Saudi Arabia controls the UN, dictating policy to the Secretary-General, burying its criminal violations of the UN Charter, and now stealing a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.  How much was paid to craven UN member states to collude in the theft of this seat on the UN Human Rights Council?  And how much was paid in treasure and threats by the Saudi protector to eject Russia from the Human Rights Council?

What You Need to Know About the Crisis in Yemen

Images of a teenage woman emaciated from severe malnutrition put Yemen's conflict in the spotlight. Yemen’s 18-month civil war has killed about 10,000 people, and now it is pushing the country to the brink of famine. More than 21 million Yemenis — 80% of the population — are in urgent need of humanitarian assistance, according to the U.N.

Drowned by the noise of the U.S. presidential election and overshadowed by the conflict in Syria and Iraq, war and hunger have quietly ravaged Yemen. Like those of drowned Syrian toddler Alan Kurdi, face down in the surf, or Aleppo boy Omran Daqneesh in the back of an ambulance, the images of emaciated 18-year-old Yemeni woman Saida Ahmad Baghili beg a neglected question: How did we get here?

1. A humanitarian crisis waiting to happen

Even before the war, Yemen was the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest country. In 2012, some 44% of its population of 25 million were undernourished with about 5 million requiring emergency aid.

Much of Yemen’s poverty is due to dire water shortages. In the capital Sana’a — which some forecast could run out of water by 2017 — less than half of residents are connected to the water supply. Even then tap water only flows about once every four days; and in the southern city of Taiz, it’s once every month. Amid the poverty, political corruption and insurgency seethed. The CIA has long conducted drone strikes against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and ISIS targets in the country.

Yet, it seems the world only really started to realize the depth of the crisis last week, when photographs of the teenage Baghili, who is suffering from severe malnutrition, were splashed across international news websites. In one shot, a skeletal Baghili lies in a fetal position on her bed at Yemen’s Al Thawra Hospital. In another, her hands grip the armrests of a metal wheelchair; her cheeks have receded and her skin is stretched tightly over her protruding jawbone.

2. The immediate roots of the conflict date back to the Arab Spring

In the wake of the 2011 Tunisian revolution, protesters across Yemen called for the ouster of U.S.- and Saudi-backed autocrat Ali Abdullah Saleh — who, it is believed, had amassed up to $60 billion during his time in office.

Saleh eventually ceded power to his deputy Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi in February 2012, but the transition proved rocky: following terrorist attacks in Sana’a, and unrest over food insecurity, Houthi rebels from the north overran the capital — and then Saleh aligned with the rebels.

Hadi fled the country when rebels advanced on his stronghold city of Aden and called for support. In March 2015 a Saudi-led coalition — with intelligence, logistics and later munitions support from the U.S., the U.K. and France — began bombing Houthi positions in support of Hadi’s internationally recognized government.

3. It’s a messy, brutal war, and the U.S. has weighed in

Yemen’s conflict has been characterized as a proxy war between Shi’ite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia, but the situation is more nuanced. Iranian policy analyst Mahan Abedin describes Iran’s conduct as “high on rhetoric but low on decisive action.”

The Houthi, who champion Yemen’s Zaidi Shia Muslim minority, have engaged in intermittent battles against the government — and against Saudi Arabia — for over a decade but grew into a broad national movement following the Arab Spring. When the rebels took Sana’a in 2014 they found backing from many disenchanted young Yemenis, including among some of the majority Sunnis.

Hezbollah — a Lebanese Shi’ite militant group and a loyal proxy of Tehran — has denied military involvement in Yemen while voicing support for the Houthis. But in March a Hezbollah commander said that its fighters were already in the country. “Who do you think fires Tochka missiles into Saudi Arabia? It’s not the Houthis in their sandals, it’s us,” he said.

The actual extent of Iran’s support for the Houthi rebels is unclear. What is clear is that Yemen’s domestic conflict over the inability to produce consensus on power sharing and the structure of a post-Saleh state has now escalated into an intractable multi-party war.

Having dropped U.S.-made cluster bombs on Yemeni cities, Saudi Arabia again provoked outcry from human-rights groups when it bombed a funeral ceremony in Sana’a on Oct. 8. The attack killed 140 people, injured 500 more and deeply embarrassed Washington.

Following the bombing, White House National Security Council spokesman Ned Price said that U.S. security cooperation was not a “blank check,” and that it was reviewing its “already significantly reduced support to the Saudi-led coalition.”

But weeks before — in accordance with Saudi wishes — the U.S. failed to back an independent international inquiry into war crimes committed in Yemen. And on Saturday, another Saudi-led airstrike killed 58 people at a prison complex in western Yemen. The Pentagon has denied that Washington seeks a wider role in the conflict. However, direct U.S. military involvement in Yemen came within days of the Sana’a funeral bombing. On Oct. 10, the U.S. fired retaliatory cruise missiles at radar installations in Houthi-controlled territory after its Navy destroyer USS Mason came under fire in the Red Sea.

4. Experts foresee a protracted conflict

The collapse of U.N.-sponsored peace talks in August, October’s escalation and a recent cholera outbreak that added stress to Yemen’s already failing health care system have led to speculation that the country could become “the next Syria.” Alexander Corbeil, lead analyst for Ottawa-based think tank the SecDev Group, told TIME that Yemen is unlikely to become a realm for regional power plays in the way that Syria has, in part because Washington and Riyadh have a vested interest in keeping other actors out. At the same time, he forecast “a grinding, protracted conflict with huge humanitarian implications.”

Naji Hussein, a police officer who lives in U.A.E. and had just returned from visiting family in Al Bayda, Sana’a, told TIME in an email Tuesday that most local farms and fields in the area had been destroyed or abandoned. Food prices have also soared: beans that used to cost 60 Yemini Riyal ($0.24) now cost $1.04.

“It’s difficult to live,” Hussein wrote. “We live in fear. We hear the airplanes and we don’t know when the next attack is going to be.”