In an attempt to cover up their recent scandal of looting humanitarian relief for their war effort, the Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen slammed the United Nations for reportedly failing to tackle the humanitarian situation and ailing economy of the war-ravaged country.
In a Saturday official statement, the Houthis’ self-proclaimed Sanaa-based Higher Economic Committee blamed the international body for not doing enough to save the economy.
This was followed by threats by Houthi leaders to expel the UN monitor team, headed by retired Dutch general Patrick Cammaert, out of Hodeidah province.
The UN committee is tasked with monitoring a fragile ceasefire in Hodeidah that was brokered in December.
Prominent Houthi leader Hassan Zeid called for expelling Cammaert and resuming armed clashes, baselessly claiming in a Facebook post that the UN committee is trying to hand over Hodeidah city and its strategic ports to Houthi enemies: the Americans, British, Saudis and Emiratis.
“Beware of the Dutch, damn him and the measures that pave the way for occupation,” Zeid said with a bellicose note meant to mobilize the militias.
Zeid, who is on a list of 40 criminals wanted by the Saudi-led Arab coalition, called for an all-out war fought to the very “last drop of blood.”
The Houthis spurred a nationwide armed conflict in 2014 to better advance Iranian goals in the region.
While observers believe that escalating threats and condemnations are an attempt for the group to turn attention away from its food aid scandal, the Houthi Economic Committee went as far as accusing the UN for “inaction and coldness on the economic file touching all Yemeni people.”
The UN World Food Program (WFP), late December, revealed that food aid meant for starving Yemenis is being stolen and sold in some areas controlled by the Houthi coupists.
After hearing that humanitarian food was being sold on the open market in Houthi-run Sanaa, the WFP said it found many people had not received the food rations to which they are entitled, and that at least one local partner organization affiliated with the Houthi Ministry of Education was committing fraud.
