The Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights activist, Tawakkol Karman, called on Joe Biden’s new administration to pressure the Saudis to end the war, keep the ports open to avoid another Hodeida port crisis, and bring the necessary aid, including covid-19 and cholera-related aid, to a starving and suffering population.

“The Biden administration should also exert maximum pressure on the Houthis to retreat from their coup and return to what was previously agreed upon by the Yemenis at the National Dialogue Conference, and on Iran to stop its interference in Yemen and stop supplying the Houthis with machines of destruction and death” Mrs. Karman wrote in Washington Post.

She pointed out that ending arms sales to Saudi Arabia and ending the war in Yemen receive an overwhelming support from congress and the American people, despite Trump’s vetoes.

Therefore, she continued, Biden should build upon congressional momentum to codify these bipartisan resolutions and put a permanent end to the pointless arms sales and endless war in Yemen.

She also praised the Yemen people, indicating that Yemenis “have a proud and peaceful history and dream of an even brighter future,” calling upon Biden to “follow through on his promise to end the war, stop blindly supporting a Saudi regime with blood on its hands and halt this latest arms sale. It is time to turn the page.”

“This foreign interference in Yemen has cost our people gravely. After years of war, occupation and proxy battles, 20 million of my countrymen and women are experiencing food insecurity and 10 million are at risk of famine, while 80 percent are below the poverty line,” she pointed out.