The Yemeni Government accuses the rebels of preventing the entry of humanitarian aid
The Yemeni government today accused the Houthi rebels of Yemen of preventing the entry of humanitarian and commercial aid ships into two ports controlled by them in the Red Sea, and of stopping and looting assistance trucks, according to the official Saba news agency.
The internationally recognized Executive High Relief Committee said in a statement that between May 2015 and December 2018 the rebels banned access to 88 ships with humanitarian aid, other products and oil, and that 34 of them were held for six months, so the bulk of the load went bad.
The committee also noted that seven vessels were directly attacked by the rebels during the same period while sailing in the Red Sea off the Yemeni coast.
Also, in the past three and a half years the Houthis arrested and looted a total of 697 trucks with humanitarian cargo on the roads of the provinces they control, such as Hayah (north), Al Hudeida (west), Ibb (center) and Taez (southwest), according to the note.
Some of those trucks were carrying medicines and vaccines, the committee added, noting that the Houthis also seized 51,000 tons of wheat from the World Food Program (WFP).
These accusations come a day after the UN program denounced the sale or diversion of food aid in areas controlled by the rebels, including the capital Sanaa.
WFP stated that it has found evidence that the food was taken by trucks from the designated distribution centers; of the manipulation of the lists of beneficiaries of the aid and the records of their distribution by local officials; and that part of it ended up in the hands of those who did not need it or for sale in the free market.
He also said he is trying to improve the entire assistance system, introducing more controls and reforming the beneficiary selection process to ensure that "food reaches those most in need," but that the Houthi authorities have resisted these changes. in the areas controlled by them.
For their part, the Houthis today rejected the WFP accusations and threats to suspend their work in the areas dominated by the insurgent movement.
