文章摘自：The Economist
期刊日期：Oct. 10th 2020
Famine in Yemen - an avoidable tragedy
葉門的饑荒-可避免的悲劇
背景導讀：
葉門的戰爭已經持續很多年，戰爭帶來的不僅僅是傷亡和炮火。各方膠著不清，牽扯各方利益，戰事愈演愈烈。戰爭沒有分出勝負，卻讓百姓飽受戰爭的煎熬，失去親人的痛苦和饑荒的威脅。
重點單詞：
indiscriminately ：adv. 無差別，任意地；不分青紅皂白地；濫；
detainees：n. （尤指因政治原因而）被拘留者
Escalating：v. （使）逐步升級( escalate的現在分詞 )；
faminen. 饑荒；飢餓；極度缺乏
Combatants：n. 戰鬥員，格鬥者( combatant的名詞複數 )
tarnished ：v. （通常指金屬）（使）失去光澤，（使）變灰暗(
reprehensible ：adj. 應受譴責的
aggravated ：v. 使惡化；使更嚴重；激怒；使惱火adj.
正文：
The war in Yemen seems to play on an endless loop. Atrocity follows atrocity. The government is backed by a Saudi-led coalition that bombs civilians; the Houthis are backed by Iran, and recruit children and fire shells indiscriminately into cities. Efforts to make peace go nowhere. A swap of 1,081 prisoners, agreed on at the end of September, raised only faint hopes. A similar exchange, involving 15,000 detainees, was arranged in 2018 but never fully implemented. The loop is unbroken.
葉門的戰爭看起來永無休止。一輪接一輪的暴行肆虐。政府獲得了轟炸平民的沙特領導的聯盟的支持，胡塞叛軍又背靠伊朗，徵用童兵，在市區濫用炮彈進行轟炸。追求和平的努力全然白費。9月底達成的交換1081名囚犯的協議只帶來了微弱的希望。同樣，在2018年涉及15000名被俘虜交換協議，但從未得到充分執行。此循環並未間斷。
In the past six years the conflict has killed tens of thousands of people and gravely harmed millions more. Now it is escalating again. Civilians died in August in greater numbers than in any other month this year. The economy is collapsing, covid-19 is spreading unchecked and a rusting tanker off the western coast, laden with roughly 1.1m barrels of oil, risks causing an ecological catastrophe.
在過去六年裡，衝突已造成數萬人死亡，嚴重傷害到了數百萬人。 現在它又逐步升級。 今年8月份的平民死亡人數超過了其他任何一個月。經濟正在崩潰，新型冠狀病毒在不受控制地蔓延，西海岸一艘生鏽的油輪裝載著大約110萬桶石油，有有著可能造成生態災難的危險。
Amid this litany of suffering, Yemen’s most pressing problem is famine. About two-thirds of its 30m people need food aid. Many millions, the UN says, are on the brink of starvation. It should be possible to feed them. International bodies have sounded the alarm; relief groups know what to do. The question is whether Yemen’s rich neighbours, who have sustained the fighting with arms and money, will have the decency also to sustain the country’s people with food and medicine—and whether the war’s stubborn and self-interested combatants will allow the aid to get through.
在這些痛苦當中，葉門最緊迫的問題是饑荒。 300萬人口中大約有三分之二的人需要糧食援助。 聯合國說，數百萬人正處於餓死的邊緣掙扎。 他們是有可能得到援助的。 國際機構敲響了警鐘；救援組織知道該做什麼。 問題是，葉門那些用武器和金錢維持了戰爭的富裕鄰國們，他們是否也有體面地用糧食和藥品來援助葉門人民，頑固的戰爭和自私的戰鬥人員是否會讓援助得以通過。
Two years ago the UN requested billions of dollars for the relief effort. It was a good time to ask. The Saudis were eager to repair their image, tarnished by the war and the killing of Jamal Khashoggi, a dissident journalist. The United Arab Emirates (uae), which led the coalition’s ground war in Yemen until last year, was also on a publicity drive. Along with Kuwait, they both gave generously. As a result, countless lives were saved.
兩年前，聯合國要求數十億美元用於救援工作。 這是個請求援助的好時機。 沙特人渴望修復他們被戰爭和殺害持不同政見的記者Jamal Khashoggi事件所毀掉的的人設，。 阿拉伯聯合大公國（阿聯）在葉門領導了聯盟的地面戰爭，直到去年，也在大肆宣傳。 他們同科威特一起慷慨解囊。 結果，救了無數人的性命。
Lately the Saudis, Emiratis and Kuwaitis have had other priorities. Saudi Arabia hosted an international pledging conference in June, after it vowed to give $500m this year (down from $750m last year). The kingdom has since lowered its commitment to $300m—better than the UAE, which so far this year has pledged nothing. 「It is particularly reprehensible to promise money, which gives people hope that help may be on the way, and then to dash those hopes by simply failing to fulfil the promise,」 says Mark Lowcock, the un’s emergency-relief coordinator.
最近，沙特人、阿聯人和科威特人還有其他優先事項。 沙烏地阿拉伯於今年6月主辦了一次國際認捐會議，此前它誓言今年將捐助5億$（低於去年的7.5億美元）。此後，沙特王國降低了對3億$的承諾——比阿聯要多，而阿聯迄今為止今年還沒有做出任何承諾。 聯合國緊急救援協調員馬克·洛科克(Mark Lowcock)表示：「承諾資金援助尤其應受譴責，因為這會給人們帶來希望，希望幫助可能會在路上，然後僅僅是因為未能兌現承諾而打破這些希望。
The resulting decline in Yemenis receiving food aid is being aggravated by the coalition, which has cut off fuel supplies to Houthis controlled areas. Its blockade has pushed up prices and shut down vital services for lack of fuel. Saudi Arabia deposited $2bn in Yemen’s central bank in 2018. Now it is nearly all gone and the currency is collapsing, making food, most of which is imported, even less affordable. Neither do Saudi Arabia’s alleged air strikes on farms help Yemen’s harvest.
聯盟切斷了對胡塞控制地區的燃料供應，從而加劇了葉門接受糧食援助人數的下降。 燃料封鎖推高了價格，並因缺乏燃料而關閉了很多重要的服務。 沙烏地阿拉伯於2018年將20億$存放在葉門中央銀行。 現在這些資金幾乎全部消失了，貨幣正在崩潰，使得大部分糧食都需要進口，甚至負擔不起。 沙烏地阿拉伯所謂對農場的空襲也無助於葉門的收成。
Saudi Arabia, desperate for a face-saving way out of the war, may be turning the screws on the Houthis. Starving the north is unlikely to work. But the Houthis will not like the loss of revenue—they themselves divert aid and sell it for profit. They even tried to impose a 2% levy on aid shipments. To ensure food reaches the right people, the UN wants to introduce a biometric id system. The Houthis, though, are loth to cede control.
沙烏地阿拉伯迫切希望用體面的方式退出戰爭，它可能正在對胡塞人施壓。 在北方挨餓不太可能奏效。 但胡塞人不會放過一點利益——他們自己轉移援助並將其出售以獲取利潤。他們甚至試圖對援助貨物徵收2%的稅。為了確保食物能送達到有需要的人，聯合國希望引入生物識別身份系統。 然而，胡塞人不願意放手對其控制權。
Neither the government nor the Houthis seem to care about the people they hope to rule any more than their backers do. To prevent famine would not take much—more money from the Gulf states, a lifting of the blockade and cooperation from the Houthis. Alas, if the belligerents were at all moved by the suffering of Yemenis, the war would have ended long ago.
無論是政府還是胡塞人似乎都不關心他們想要統治的人民，正如他們的支持者一樣。 為了防止饑荒不會讓墨西哥灣延岸各州付出太多，可以解除胡塞人封鎖和合作。 唉，如果交戰各方也都被葉門人的苦難所感動，戰爭早就結束了。