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Famine has killed at least 105m people since 1870, according to research conducted by the World Peace Foundation. The vast majority were victims of political decisions and acts of war rather than drought. But by the turn of the millennium such man-made disaster had diminished to the extent that experts in the field, such as the UK academic and writer Alex de Waal, felt mass starvation might be a thing of the past.
根据世界和平基金会(World Peace Foundation)的调查，自1870年以来，饥荒已至少造成1.05亿人死亡，其中大多数人死于政治决定和战争行为造成的饥荒，而非干旱造成的饥荒。但到了世纪之交，这种人为灾难已经大大减少，以至该领域的专家——如英国学者兼作家亚历克斯?德瓦尔(Alex de Waal)——认为，大规模饥荒可能已成为过去。
This year that progress has dramatically reversed. The renewed use of starvation as a weapon of war is threatening millions of lives in Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. The situation in Yemen is the most catastrophic.
今年这一进展出现了重大倒退。饥荒作为一个战争武器的重新启用，正威胁着尼日利亚、南苏丹、索马里和也门的无数条生命。其中也门的情况是最具灾难性的。
The conflict there descended into a new circle of hell after Saudi Arabia committed its air force to defeating Houthi rebels in March 2015. In the process, roads, bridges and markets have been destroyed, the container docks at the port of al-Hudaida were bombed, and other infrastructure ruined. At Riyadh’s insistence and with the backing of Britain and the US, the UN Security Council imposed a blockade on the country.
在沙特阿拉伯于2015年3月投入空军打击胡塞叛军之后，也门的冲突陷入新一轮地狱。在这一过程中，道路、桥梁和集市遭到破坏，荷台达(al-Hudaida)港口的集装箱码头遭到轰炸，其他基础设施也被毁。在利雅得的坚持以及英美的支持下，联合国安理会(UN Security Council)对也门实施了封锁。
Its purpose is to prevent weapons reaching the rebels and in theory food is exempted. In practice, laborious inspection procedures mean food is reaching hungry mouths fatally slowly. And that was before a recent decision by Saudi Arabia to block humanitarian aid in retaliation for a missile fired at Riyadh earlier this month.
封锁的目的是阻止叛军获得武器，理论上食物不在封锁范围之内。但在实践中，繁琐的检查程序意味着饥民获得食物的速度慢到致命的程度。这还是之前的情况，最近沙特决定封锁人道主义援助，以报复本月早些时候一枚飞往利雅得的导弹。
The consequences are terrifying. The UN says two-thirds of Yemen’s 28m population face shortages of food and clean water. A staggering 7m are now on the brink of famine. A cholera epidemic is raging. The war itself has claimed an estimated 10,000 people. But as was the case in most of the worst 20th-century conflicts, starvation is certain to be a greater killer. Mark Lowcock, the UN undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, last week said the continued closure of borders to aid shipments would threaten “the largest famine the world has seen for many decades”. The blockade, which Saudi Arabia appears to have partially lifted at the weekend, is tantamount to a war crime. And Riyadh’s allies should be wary of complicity.
其后果是可怕的。联合国称也门2800万人口中有三分??之二面临食物和清洁饮用水短缺。现在面临饥荒的人数高达700万。霍乱疫情正在肆虐。战争本身据估计造成1万人死亡。但是与20世纪绝大多数最严重冲突的情况一样，饥饿肯定将导致更多人死亡。联合国负责人道主义事务的副秘书长马克?洛考克(Mark Lowcock)日前表示，继续封锁救援物资可能导致“数十年来全球最大饥荒”。这场封锁——不久前沙特似乎部分解除了封锁——无异于战争罪行。利雅得的盟友应该当心成为帮凶。
Before he was forced to resign last month over allegations of sexual harassment, Sir Michael Fallon, then the UK’s defence secretary, begged MPs to cease all criticism of the kingdom. This risked jeopardising BAE Systems’ ￡4bn deal to sell the kingdom fighter jets, he said. Sir Michael showed similar blindness about what is morally acceptable in his public evidence to the defence committee. He is gone. But sadly, his posture reflected that of a government which in its dealings with Saudi Arabia treats human rights as little more than a commercial inconvenience.
时任英国国防大臣的迈克尔?法伦爵士(Sir Michael Fallon)在上个月因性骚扰指控而被迫辞职前，曾恳求国会议员停止对沙特的一切批评。他称，这些批评可能危及BAE系统公司(BAE Systems)向沙特出售战斗机的40亿英镑大单。在向国防委员会的证言中，法伦也表现出了对道德底线的类似漠视。他离开了。但可悲的是，他的立场反映出英国政府在与沙特打交道时只是把人权问题当做妨碍贸易的一个因素。
Donald Trump’s administration has been more craven still in encouraging Saudi Arabian over-reach. Washington’s silence over the tragedy unfolding in Yemen is as deafening as it is strategically misguided. The intervention in Yemen was supposed to mark the arrival of a more assertive Saudi Arabia, rallying Sunni and other allies to counter Iranian, and Shia, influence. Instead, Saudi forces have proved as ineffectual as they are brutish. Even before Iran was actively involved, Riyadh was unable to defeat the rag-tag rebels. There is little sign they are any closer now.
特朗普(Trump)政府甚至更加怯懦的立场，鼓励了沙特的过分行为。美国政府对正在也门上演的这场悲剧的沉默不仅令人难以忍受，在战略上也是极其错误的。沙特对也门的干涉本应该标志着沙特以更加坚定自信的姿态出现在世人面前，联合逊尼派和其他盟友一起对抗伊朗和什叶派势力。相反，沙特部队被证明既没用又残暴。即使在伊朗积极参与进来前，沙特也没能打败乌合之众的叛军。眼下也没有什么迹象显示沙特距离胜利更近了。
There is also little doubt that without a change of heart in Riyadh, Yemenis will starve on a scale the 21st century has yet to see. In such circumstances, the US and Britain would be found guilty of complicity in crimes committed in the name of Saudi hubris.
此外，毫无疑问的是，如果沙特不改变心意，也门人将遭受21世纪以来最严重的饥荒。在这种局面下，美国和英国会是沙特的自大所犯下罪行的帮凶。
