Murphy Discusses Food Security Crises in Syria and Yemen and the Role of Russia, Saudi Arabia, UAE

Press Release

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) spoke on Wednesday at a U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on the global food security crisis and the U.S. response with U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations (UN) Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

Murphy highlighted the devastating impact of Russia's decision to employ starvation as a tool to help Assad in Syria: "Today, [the World Food Programme] estimates you've got about 12 million people who are food insecure, starving. That's an increase from last year. It's hard to believe, but it's getting worse inside Syria, not better. And yet, during the last several years, we, of course, have gone from four crossings to bring humanitarian aid down to only one crossing. And there's only one reason for that, and that is the Russians' decision to try to use starvation as a tool to benefit Bashar al-Assad. You were able to win a six-month extension of the one crossing, but that's all that Russia will agree to. So just tell us, very briefly, what the consequences are, going from four crossings to one crossing, and now having only a handful of months certainty that you will even have that available for humanitarian relief getting into Syria."

On Saudi Arabia's announcement to deposit $2 billion into the Yemen Central Bank, Murphy said: [V]ery glad to see that […] the Saudis announced that they would be depositing $2 billion into Yemen's Central Bank. That's really important because the food crisis is exacerbated by the broader economic crisis inside Yemen, and that funding will help to free up some capital and resources for Yemeni families and public employees to buy food."

Murphy continued: "But every single year, the Saudis and the Emiratis, in particular, make these big public pledges as to how much they are going to support food assistance and humanitarian aid in Yemen. And then, every single year, it is like pulling teeth to get both of these supposed allies to deliver on those pledges. So, the Saudis have pledged $300 million for food aid and humanitarian relief inside Yemen so far this year, but so far, they have delivered about $85 million. The Emiratis have delivered $23 million. I mean, the Emirati sneeze $23 million every morning when they wake up. And yet, we can't get more than $23 million to support humanitarian relief."

You can read Murphy's full exchange with Power and Thomas-Greenfield:

MURPHY: "Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. It's really hard in one hearing to categorize all the ways in which the Russians are using starvation as a deliberate tactic, not just in Ukraine, but all over the world. And Ambassador Thomas-Greenfield, I wanted to sneak in two questions, one for you, and one for Ambassador Power.

"To you, I wanted to talk about the crisis in Syria. Today, WFP estimates you've got about 12 million people who are food insecure, starving. That's an increase from last year. It's hard to believe, but it's getting worse inside Syria, not better. And yet, during the last several years, we, of course, have gone from four crossings to bring humanitarian aid down to only one crossing. And there's only one reason for that, and that is the Russians' decision to try to use starvation as a tool to benefit Bashar al-Assad. You were able to win a six-month extension of the one crossing, but that's all that Russia will agree to. So just tell us, very briefly, what the consequences are, going from four crossings to one crossing, and now having only a handful of months certainty that you will even have that available for humanitarian relief getting into Syria."

THOMAS-GREENFIELD: "Senator, thank you for that question. I was in the region earlier in the year, and I saw the desperation, not just among the Syrians, but the desperation of the humanitarian workers, who will see the impact of this directly in January when this border crossing closes in the middle of winter. What we expect will start to happen is more people will start to move; people will not sit and allow themselves and their children starve to death. So we will have to possibly prepare for more migrations of people across the border and support to those people where they're sitting. We worked desperately to get this border crossing extended for a year. The Russians were obstructionist, as they always have been. We spoke to the NGOs who said, yes, 12 months is the minimum we need, but six months is better than nothing. And that's why we came away with the six months that you just spoke about. But we're still working in the Security Council to try to get that extended at the end of the six month period and get more border crosses open because the situation -- the humanitarian situation -- is increasing, not decreasing."

MURPHY: "Well, we appreciate your Herculean work trying to keep that crossing open. Tell us how we can continue to help.

"Ambassador Power, I wanted to ask you to drill down a little bit more on the commitments that we need from our Gulf allies. So, very glad to see that…the Saudis announced that they would be depositing $2 billion into Yemen's Central Bank. That's really important because the food crisis is exacerbated by the broader economic crisis inside Yemen, and that funding will help to free up some capital and resources for Yemeni families and public employees to buy food. But every single year, the Saudis and the Emiratis, in particular, make these big public pledges as to how much they are going to support food assistance and humanitarian aid in Yemen. And then, every single year, it is like pulling teeth to get both of these supposed allies to deliver on those pledges. So, the Saudis have pledged $300 million for food aid and humanitarian relief inside Yemen so far this year, but so far, they have delivered about 85 million. The Emiratis have delivered 23 million. I mean, the Emiratis sneeze $23 million every morning when they wake up. And yet, we can't get more than $23 million to support humanitarian relief. How critical is it, for the Gulf countries that are participants in the war inside Yemen, to be active partners in delivering aid to what continues to be the world's worst humanitarian disaster? We're doing the most, but it seems that the participants in the war need to be at least meeting our commitment."

POWER: "Thank you. Yes, Senator, I really can't put it better than you have put it but would only start by saying the truce needs to be preserved because the only thing worse than the food conditions pending right now in Yemen -- and David Beasley can speak to this imminently -- is that food crisis plus a resumption of the war. And that's I think, why the diplomacy that President Biden did on his trip to the Gulf around the Yemen war and extending the truce is so, so very important.

"I would add that Qatar in the in the past has made fairly important contributions to previous crises in Somalia. So one of the things that I will do in the wake of my trip to the Horn, here in the coming days, is engage with them. We have a conversation underway, but I think that's an area for growth as well. And I would say, again: The Saudis have provided some capital and liquidity, I think, to the Egyptians to help shoulder this crisis. But just as I indicated in my opening, you know, we've got to pursue emergency aid at the same time we make these longer term investments. And so it really isn't enough just to provide loans, even though that's an incredibly important piece of the puzzle. Organizations like the World Food Program and other international NGOs and other UN agencies need big money -- just to keep people alive -- so that we can then, again, look at the kind of political reforms and economic reforms and growing the economy and growing the agricultural sector that we know is, in the long term, the only way that we're not going to avoid coming back and having hearings like this every season."

MURPHY: "And lastly, the ceasefire is so important. I'm glad the administration made that a priority, but the ceasefire has to be a mechanism to a political dialogue that eventually gets a return of the Yemeni Government to the Yemeni people. Thank you, Mr. Chairman."

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