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Houthi rebels in Yemen say they have captured a large number of Saudi troops after a major attack near the border between the two countries.A Houthi spokesman told the BBC that three Saudi brigades had surrendered near the Saudi town of Najran.He said thousands of soldiers had been captured and many others killed. Saudi officials have not confirmed the claim.The operation was the largest of its kind since the conflict began, the spokesman said.Colonel Yahiya Sarea said Saudi forces had suffered "huge losses in life and machinery".All those captured would be paraded on the Houthi-run Al Masirah TV network on Sunday, he added.Houthis say they launched a drone and missile attack on Saudi oil facilities on 14 September which affected global markets.But the Saudis - backed by the US, UK, France and Germany - have all publicly blamed Iran for the strike, allegations Tehran denies.What's the background?Yemen has been at war since 2015, when President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and his cabinet were forced to flee the capital Sanaa by the Houthis - which hold much of the north of the country.Saudi Arabia backs President Hadi, and has led a coalition of regional countries in air strikes against the Iran-aligned rebels.The coalition launches air strikes almost every day, while the Houthis often fire missiles into Saudi Arabia.The civil war has triggered the world's worst humanitarian disaster, with 80% of the population - more than 24 million people - requiring humanitarian assistance or protection, including 10 million who rely on food aid to survive.More than 70,000 people are believed to have died since 2016 as a result of the conflict, according to UN estimates.Yemen conflict A man carries a wounded child after a Saudi-led airstrike that killed eight members of her family in Sanaa, August 2017For a little more than three years, Yemen has been locked in a seemingly intractable civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people and pushed millions to the brink of starvation.The conflict has its roots in the Arab Spring of 2011, when an uprising forced the country's long-time authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi.The political transition was supposed to bring stability to Yemen, one of the Middle East's poorest nations, but President Hadi struggled to deal with various problems including militant attacks, corruption, food insecurity, and continuing loyalty of many military officers to Saleh.Fighting began in 2014 when the Houthi Shia Muslim rebel movement took advantage of the new president's weakness and seized control of northern Saada province and neighbouring areas. The Houthis went on to take the capital Sanaa, forcing Mr Hadi into exile abroad.The conflict escalated dramatically in March 2015, when Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states - backed by the US, UK, and France - began air strikes against the Houthis, with the declared aim of restoring Mr Hadi's government.The Saudi-led coalition feared that continued success of the Houthis would give their rival regional power and Shia-majority state, Iran, a foothold in Yemen, Saudi Arabia's southern neighbour. Saudi Arabia says Iran is backing the Houthis with weapons and logistical support - a charge Iran denies.Both sides have since been beset by infighting. The Houthis broke with Saleh and he was killed by Houthi fighters in December 2017. On the anti-Houthi side, militias include separatists seeking independence for south Yemen and factions who oppose the idea.The stalemate has produced an unrelenting humanitarian crisis, with at least 8.4 million people at risk of starvation and 22.2 million people - 75% of the population - in need of humanitarian assistance, according to the UN. Severe acute malnutrition is threatening the lives of almost 400,000 children under the age of five.Yemen's health system has all but collapsed, while the world's largest cholera outbreak has killed thousands.In June 2018, Saudi-backed government forces began an assault on the key rebel-held port of Hudaydah, the entry point for the vast majority of aid going into Yemen and a lifeline for the starving. Aid agencies warned the offensive could make Yemen's humanitarian catastrophe much worse.Yemen crisis: Why is there a war?More than 60% of civilian deaths have been the result of Saudi-led air strikes, the UN saysYemen, one of the Arab world's poorest countries, has been devastated by a civil war. Here we explain what is fuelling the fighting, and who is involved.Houthi rebel fighters entered Sanaa in September 2014 and took full control in January 2015The conflict has its roots in the failure of a political transition supposed to bring stability to Yemen following an Arab Spring uprising that forced its longtime authoritarian president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to hand over power to his deputy, Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi, in 2011.As president, Mr Hadi struggled to deal with a variety of problems, including attacks by jihadists, a separatist movement in the south, the continuing loyalty of security personnel to Saleh, as well as corruption, unemployment and food insecurity.Ali Abdullah Saleh (R) was forced to hand over power to Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi (L)The Houthi movement, which champions Yemen's Zaidi Shia Muslim minority and fought a series of rebellions against Saleh during the previous decade, took advantage of the new president's weakness by taking control of their northern heartland of Saada province and neighbouring areas.Disillusioned with the transition, many ordinary Yemenis - including Sunnis - supported the Houthis and in late 2014 and early 2015, the rebels took over Sanaa.A Saudi-led multinational coalition intervened in the conflict in Yemen in March 2015 The Houthis and security forces loyal to Saleh - who is thought to have backed his erstwhile enemies in a bid to regain power - then attempted to take control of the entire country, forcing Mr Hadi to flee abroad in March 2015.Alarmed by the rise of a group they believed to be backed militarily by regional Shia power Iran, Saudi Arabia and eight other mostly Sunni Arab states began an air campaign aimed at restoring Mr Hadi's government.The coalition received logistical and intelligence support from the US, UK and France.What's happened since then?At the start of the war Saudi officials forecast that the war would last only a few weeks. But four years of military stalemate have followed.Coalition ground troops landed in the southern port city of Aden in August 2015 and helped drive the Houthis and their allies out of much of the south over the next few months. Mr Hadi's government has established a temporary home in Aden, but it struggles to provide basic services and security and the president remains in exile.The Houthis meanwhile have not been dislodged from Sanaa, and have been able to maintain a siege of the third city of Taiz and to fire ballistic missiles across the border with Saudi Arabia.Militants from al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) and the local affiliate of the rival Islamic State group (IS) have taken advantage of the chaos by seizing territory in the south and carrying out deadly attacks, notably in Aden.The launch of a ballistic missile towards Riyadh in November 2017 prompted the Saudi-led coalition to tighten its blockade of Yemen.The coalition said it wanted to halt the smuggling of weapons to the rebels by Iran - an accusation Tehran denied - but the restrictions led to substantial increases in the prices of food and fuel, helping to push more people into food insecurity.In June 2018, the coalition attempted to break the deadlock on the battlefield by launching a major offensive on the rebel-held Red Sea city of Hudaydah, whose port is the principal lifeline for almost two thirds of Yemen's population.Media captionWhere the fighting in Yemen has stopped but not the sufferingUN officials warned that the toll in lives might be catastrophic if the port was damaged or blocked. But months passed before the warring parties could be persuaded to attend talks in Sweden to avert an all-out battle in Hudaydah.In December, government and Houthi representatives agreed to a ceasefire in Hudaydah city and port and promised to redeploy their forces by mid-January. But both sides have yet to start withdrawing, raising fears that the deal will collapse.What's been the human cost?In short, Yemen is experiencing the world's worst man-made humanitarian disaster.Media captionThe UN says Yemen is on the brink of the world's worst famine in 100 years if the war continues The UN says at least 7,025 civilians have been killed and 11,140 injured in the fighting since March 2015, with 65% of the deaths attributed to Saudi-led coalition air strikes.An international group tracking the civil war believes the death toll is far higher. The US-based Armed Conflict Location - Event Data Project estimates that more than 67,650 civilians and combatants have been killed since January 2016, based on news reports of each incident of violence.Thousands more civilians have died from preventable causes, including malnutrition, disease and poor health.About 80% of the population - 24 million people - need humanitarian assistance and protection.About 20 million need help securing food, including almost 10 million who the UN says are just a step away from famine. Almost 240,000 of those people are facing "catastrophic levels of hunger".More than 3 million people - including 2 million children - are acutely malnourished, which makes them more vulnerable to disease. The charity Save the Children estimates that 85,000 children with severe acute malnutrition may have died between April 2015 and October 2018.With only half of the country's 3,500 medical facilities fully functioning, almost 20 million people lack access to adequate healthcare. And almost 18 million do not have enough clean water or access to adequate sanitation.Consequently, medics have struggled to deal with the largest cholera outbreak ever recorded, which has resulted in more than 1.49 million suspected cases and 2,960 related deaths since April 2017.The war has also displaced more than 3.3 million from their homes, including 685,000 who have fled fighting along the west coast since June 2018.Ali Abdullah Saleh died amid fierce clashes between his supporters and the Houthis in SanaaThe alliance between the Houthis and Mr Saleh collapsed in November 2017 following clashes over control of Sanaa's biggest mosque that left dozens of people dead.Houthi fighters launched an operation to take full control of the capital and on 4 December 2017 announced that Mr Saleh had been killed.Separatists seeking independence for south Yemen, which was a separate country before unification with the north in 1990, formed an uneasy alliance with troops loyal to Mr Hadi in 2015 to stop the Houthis capturing Aden.But in January 2018 the separatist movement known as the Southern Transitional Council (STC) accused the Hadi government of corruption and mismanagement, and demanded the removal of the prime minister.Southern separatists fought Hadi loyalists after their demand for a cabinet reshuffle was rejectedClashes erupted when separatist units attempted to seize government facilities and military bases in Aden by force.The situation was made more complex by divisions within the Saudi-led coalition. Saudi Arabia reportedly backs Mr Hadi, who is based in Riyadh, while the United Arab Emirates is closely aligned with the separatists.Calm was restored in Aden after a few weeks, but tensions between the two groups remain. In September, there were protests after separatist officials called for a peaceful popular uprising in the South.Suicide bombings claimed by the Islamic State group have killed dozens of people in AdenWhat happens in Yemen can greatly exacerbate regional tensions. It also worries the West because of the threat of attacks - such as from al-Qaeda or IS affiliates - emanating from the country as it becomes more unstable.The conflict is also seen as part of a regional power struggle between Shia-ruled Iran and Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia.Gulf Arab states - backers of President Hadi - have accused Iran of bolstering the Houthis financially and militarily, though Iran has denied this.Yemen is also strategically important because it sits on a strait linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden, through which much of the world's oil shipments pass.Yemen war: Has anything been achieved?By Frank GardnerThis summer's partial withdrawal of Emirati forces from Yemen, while the war still drags on, prompts the inevitable question - has anything been achieved by anyone in this conflict? Even the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - Saudi Arabia's closest ally - pronounced on 22 July: "There was no easy victory and there will be no easy peace."Let's start with the downside. What has been lost and the scale of the disaster here is quite staggering.The Yemen war, now in its fifth year, has rightly been branded the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Estimates of those killed range from 10,000 to more than 70,000, the vast majority being Yemenis and an estimated two-thirds of those deaths from Saudi-led air strikes.According to the UN's Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, there are more than 30 front lines; more than 3.3 million people have been displaced; and 80% of the population need assistance and protection, including 10 million now reliant on food aid.Transpose those figures on to a UK population and it would notionally mean 53 million people needing help and protection.So Yemen, already the Arab world's poorest country, has been plunged ever deeper into poverty and economic disaster.This year, the Yemen war is already spreading beyond its borders, with missile and drone attacks by Houthi rebels on Saudi border towns, on shipping in the Red Sea and reportedly even on targets as far away as Riyadh and the UAE.Yet for Yemen's legitimate, UN-recognised government and its Saudi and Emirati backers, this war has always been about preventing an unacceptable takeover of the country by a tiny minority with links to Iran - the Houthis. And in that, they have succeeded, albeit at a terrible price paid by the people of Yemen.Saudi-led air strikes have caused huge loss of life and widespread destructionThe war did not begin with the Saudi-led air campaign in March 2015. It began six months earlier when the Houthis, a small, largely unheard-of Yemeni tribal group from the mountainous north, marched on the capital, Sanaa, and evicted the legitimate government.Then, with the backing of forces loyal to the ousted former Yemeni President Ali Abdallah Saleh, the Houthis took over most of the populated areas of Yemen.For Saudi Arabia, Iran's regional rival, this felt like an Iranian-backed coup on its southern frontier and the ruling princes resolved to act.Propelled by its inexperienced defence minister and now Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia put together a hastily-assembled coalition and began a devastating campaign of air strikes on Houthi positions.When I visited its operations centre in Riyadh in April 2015, the coalition spokesman was confident that within a few months Houthi resistance would crumble and they would effectively sue for peace. Yet more than four years on, the air strikes continue. There have been peace talks, but no peace.And the British government has found itself dragged into court, accused by human rights activists of providing weapons and munitions to the Royal Saudi Air Force which has, on several occasions over the past four years, bombed schools, hospitals, market places and funerals, killing civilians.The Houthis, too, have committed alleged war crimes but Britain isn't supplying them.The UAE, which at one point had up to 7,000 troops deployed in Yemen, has now reduced its contingent there to a few hundred, leaving the Saudis and their Yemeni allies to fight the Houthis, who remain firmly embedded in and around the capital and the north of the country.The UAE view is that its participation in this war has helped achieve several things. It has prevented a Houthi takeover of the whole country, which it considers would have ultimately given Iran control over the strategic Bab al-Mandeb Strait between Africa and Arabia. Also, it has "liberated" most of Yemen and undermined the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula group.For Saudi Arabia, though, which has sunk billions of riyals into this war, and which now finds its towns and airports regularly targeted by increasingly sophisticated Houthi drones, the gains are less clear.Michael Stephens, a Gulf expert with the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi) think-tank in London, believes the war has been damaging for the Saudis as well as for Yemen."The war has produced little of benefit for Saudi Arabia and strategically you could say that Riyadh is in a weaker position than it was in 2015," he said."In contrast, the UAE has been able to achieve a number of tactical and political goals which have reinforced its position as a growing regional power."Meanwhile, the much-heralded Stockholm peace talks of last December have failed to translate into a lasting peace deal - or even a lasting ceasefire. While others can debate what they have gained or lost in Yemen, that country's agony continues.

Sankhitha Gunaratne is one of latest Chevening Scholars from Sri Lanka, chosen to pursue a higher degree in the United Kingdom. She will be reading for an MA in Corruption and Governance at the University of Sussex. In this interview with Nalaka Gunawardene, she looks back at RTI implementation so far and takes stock of the remaining challengesSeptember 28 marks the International Day for the Universal Access to Information designated by UNESCO. It celebrates the right to information or RTI, which was added to the Constitution of Sri Lanka as a fundamental right in April 2015 and later supported by the Right to Information Act No 12 of 2016.Before and after the law was passed, Attorney-at-Law Sankhitha Gunaratne has been at the forefront in promoting RTI. As Program Manager for RTI at Transparency International Sri Lanka (TISL), she has helped train hundreds of public officials on RTI compliance and facilitated over 2,100 citizens to file RTI applications with a wide range of public bodies. In 2016, she was part of the RTI Advisory Task Force to the Ministry of Mass Media which helped the Ministry plan the implementation of the RTI Act that came into effect in February 2017. Earlier, she was also a member of the TISL legal team that intervened with the Supreme Court in support of the RTI Bill after it was gazetted.Q: Sri LankaRTI Act, together with regulations, have been assessed and ranked highly by the Centre for Law and Democracy (CLD) that compiles Global RTI Ratings. What is your assessment of our RTI law and regulations?I agree that we have a very strong legal regime. As a country that enacted the law quite late, we have used all the experience of the region to formulate a good system.One of the key features of this law, is that it resets the power imbalance between the State and the individual citizen. Information is often the capital that the State has, that shuts citizens out of meaningful participation and any demand of true accountability.The law normalises the idea of accountability, specifically removing the need for citizens to give reasons for an information request. It captures any information that is on record. It further operates on the principle of maximum disclosure, always prioritizing the public interest even where some harm may be caused to privacy, national security, or other interests & where the overriding public interest can be demonstrated.There are a few things that could have been better. For example, the way the Commission is set up could have envisaged provincial commissions. All persons & and not just citizens & could have been included as being able to file RTIs.

However, as TISL stated before the Supreme Court in the Bill Determination, the law is an excellent piece of legislation that I and my organisation unequivocally support. Its full implementation is what we need now.

Q: Having a fine law is not sufficient & the real test is in implementation. On the RTI ‘supply side&, what is working well and what needs to improve?It has been difficult to assess implementation of the RTI law in Sri Lanka. So far, we have hundreds of success stories from RTI users. People have begun using RTI to hold the state accountable, and to expose acts of corruption, inefficiency and abuse of power and process. And as a country that is in the initial stages of implementation, we must congratulate ourselves on the progress made.But even as we hear these stories, we must be conscious of the fact that success is not the experience of all RTI users. A lot of the success stories have required citizens to go the extra mile and follow up on the RTI & because acknowledgments are not received, notices are not sent, or timelines are not adhered to. This means people have to keep appealing, all the way to the Commission level at times. Those who do not know that entire process are then lost in the system, thinking that this is yet another tool that does not really work.Two and a half years into RTI being operationalised, TISL was able to conduct an implementation assessment in 2019, to measure how well we are performing in three assessment areas & proactive disclosure, institutional measures and responding to requests. The assessment has shown the positive elements in the supply side. Most public authorities have appointed information officers, and the district and divisional level authorities are performing well in RTI implementation.

Q: You have been a promoter, trainer and user of RTI in the public interest. Where TISLRTI applications are concerned.What is the overall experience with public authorities?

What we have found is that TISLRTIs are sometimes responded to with more attention that certain individual citizens& requests. Moreover, public institutions in the lower administrative level are more likely to respond positively than are central agencies & this may also be due to the types of information requested.

We have found that RTI is an invaluable tool in buttressing all of our advocacy efforts & be it to support any complaints to authorities, or even in forming our own opinions on certain issues.

As RTI trainers, we have in most instances found public officials to be quite receptive. Often, the young ones are more open to the principles behind RTI, while the older tend to see it as an extra workload. However, most officials take their duties under the law very seriously, struggle with the practical angles & such as keeping count of the various timelines, not knowing where to find the information and sometimes not receiving assistance from their colleagues.

Q: As an NGO, TISL is covered by the RTI Act to the extent its activities are supported by public funds, local or foreign. How is TISL compliant with the RTI law?

We have our own information officer and designated officer, who function separately from each other. TISL has received RTI requests, all of which were responded to positively, where the information related to our public activities, as prescribed by the law. In certain instances, we gave information even where we were not bound to do. We have also made our funding publicly available on our website, as this is one of the key questions people often have about NGOs.

Q: What have been your main accomplishments in promoting RTI through TISL?

Soon after the law was passed, TISL began carrying out programs with other civil society organisations and directly, to raise awareness on RTI. We also set up what we call ‘RTI hubs& in eight districts. We helped citizens to file RTI requests and helped them through the appeal stages where necessary, even appearing for them before the RTI Commission.

We also committed ourselves to working in the villages in the local languages, encouraging people to address community issues through RTI. By now, over 2,100 citizens have filed RTIs with our assistance, 45% of them women. My role has been to oversee all these programs.

Q: On the ‘demand side& of RTI, what are your impressions based on your engagement with citizens and their various groups?

My main observation is that people out of Colombo are using RTI much more than those in and around Colombo. This may be due to the fact that many citizen services in metropolitan areas are already provided.

When you look at the nature of these RTIs & be it on road construction, government appointments, transport, medical services and education & it seems to point to a service-delivery failure by the State. This means that citizens have turned to a tool that is currently working, to address parts of the system that are not working. While this system is effective, it is clear that sweeping changes are required to fix the problems that these RTIs have begun to highlight.

It is also interesting that the first question that most people ask upon being introduced to RTI is whether they could get into trouble for using it. While the reasons for these fears may be historical and complicated, it shows that a lot needs to be done to change this mind-set from one of challenging authority, to one of a casual accountability. This can only happen if the recipients of requests too see it less as an attack and more as a query.

Q: What strategies are needed to fill gaps in public awareness and understanding of the RTI process?

One of the best ways to do this is to ensure that all public officials understand RTI and use it as a normal means of communication with its stakeholders. It is easier to train the public service than to attempt to reach all citizens in the country, in the short term.

Imagine a public authority that makes all its service-delivery information publicly available, routinely updates its notice board on recent decisions taken and regularly opens its doors to citizens treating, each query as an RTI request.

If a certain query keeps arising, the public authority immediately fixes the problem and makes that information available & using the RTI requests to point to an issue in their own workings.

This is what we want to achieve in the short term. While this may seem utopian, it is no less than the law requires. This requires ongoing training not just for information officers, but for the entire public service.

For the moment, we are using RTI success stories to publicize its effectiveness. Another step to take, is to identify and celebrate the users themselves. This would have a snowball effect, where they would become influencers in their community, with added recognition.

Q: There have been instances where citizens seeking information from public authorities have been threatened or intimidated. What protection do you advocate for RTI users?

Where a citizen feels that there may be a threat, one of the main strategies we recommend is to file the RTI as a group. It is much harder for an errant official to target a group.

Wherever there has been such threats or intimidation, India has used an interesting strategy of immediately making sure that the information that was being sought, is made public. This acts as a disincentive to officials who may want to target people.

If something like this happens, the first recourse should be to the RTI Commission, who has the power to recommend disciplinary action or prosecute. The Commission must take a firm stand in such instances. In addition to this, users could also seek assistance from the Victim and Witness Protection Authority

Q: What is your experience with the RTI Commission? Is the Commission tough enough on errant/evasive public officials?

The Commission has in the majority of cases held in favour of the citizen, ordering public authorities to release information. Having said this, there are many instances where public authorities are given several opportunities to appear, even where they have disregarded the Commissiondates. Given the amount of time between hearings, this causes major inconvenience to requesters who have already had to wait close to a year to get to this stage of appeal. In such instances, the Commission should make ex-parte decisions.

The Commission has stated that they are in the process of formulating rules regarding prosecutions for errant officials. This is an important aspect of RTI that ensures compliance with the framework. It is vital that these provisions are put into effect soon, in order to demonstrate the Statecommitment to RTI.

The Commission has responded to complaints against certain authorities or officials very seriously, asking them to show cause. In general, the Commission has been a proactive and responsive body, making bold and principled decisions, going so far as to hold regional hearings and publishing important works, to keep abreast of changing needs. It is important to assure the Commissionindependence and autonomy for the years to come.

Q: Where do you wish to see Sri LankaRTI process in five and 10 years& time?

In five years, I would like to see RTI normalised across the State and among citizens. This requires that the initial enthusiasm for RTI implementation is sustained and grown. Greater resource allocation towards implementation would be a key indicator of such commitment.

There should ideally also be a net reduction in RTI appeals as the first request level becomes more used to RTI compliance. In the short term, the number of RTIs filed per annum, should also increase, indicating a rise in awareness among citizens. Within this period, I would caution against any amendments to the RTI Act, whether such amendments are touted as being improvements, or not.

In the longer term, I would like to see a reduction in the need for formal RTIs, as proactive disclosure becomes more the order of the day within public institutions.

The bilateral medical exchange programme between the US Marine Corps Forces Pacific (MARFORPAC) and Sri Lanka Navy came to a successful end at the Marine Training Centre of SLNS Vidura on 27th September 2019. Eight (08) members comprising a doctor from the US Marine Force and 40 Sri Lanka Navy Marines, including 04 officers took part in this programme which commenced on 23rd September. The US Marine medical team exchanged their knowledge and experience in combat medicine that would be vital in various situations at war. Besides, Sri Lanka Navy Marines educated the US Marines on &Snakes in Sri Lanka& and the ones that are endemic to the country. They also demonstrated as how to handle venomous and non-venomous snakes, first aid for snake bite etc.‍‍‍

There is a high possibility for evening thundershowers over most parts of the island. Showers or thundershowers will occur over most parts of the island after 2.00 p.m. Showers or thundershowers will occur in the Southern and Uva provinces and Batticaloa and Ampara districts in the morning as well. Fairly heavy falls about 75 mm are likely at some places in Southern, Sabaragamuwa and Western provinces. Fairly heavy falls about 50 mm are likely at some places in Central, Uva, North-Central andNorth-western provinces. General public is kindly requested to take adequate precautions to minimize damages caused by temporary localized strong winds and lightning during thundershowers.