Former Malaysian PM sends open Letter to Saudi Arabia about Yemen war

The former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Bin Mohamad wrote an open letter to the Muslim world this week in a bid to end the war in Yemen, Global Research has reported.

The letter was addressed to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, including Sunni and Shia Muslims in Yemen. Mahathir made an appeal “to stop fighting this terrible war.”

“Already thousands have died and a million Yemeni children are starving to death,” explained the former Malaysian leader. “The world is appalled over this man-made tragedy. Muslims feel ashamed. Please stop this senseless slaughter. At the very least please allow food and medicine to be delivered to the starving and sick people of Yemen.”

War-torn Yemen has endured a civil war since 2014, when the Iranian-backed Houthi group overtook swathes of territory from northern Saada to the capital Sana’a. In March 2015, the internationally recognised President, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, called upon a Saudi-led coalition to intervene militarily.

Yemen has since seen some 700,000 cases of cholera in this year alone, recorded by the World Health Organisation. The coalition imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Yemen in early November, which was only eased after three weeks. Some 25,000 tonnes of wheat and aid arrived in the Port of Saleef, on the Red Sea coast, this week.

Malaysia has strong relations with Yemen which date back to the 15th century. It is known that Muslims from the southern Yemeni governorate of Hadramawt were responsible for the conversion of many Malaysians to Islam.

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