Houthi leaders struggled to produce a proper response to the scandal facing their group for blocking the United Nations ceasefire monitoring team from vetting a humanitarian aid convoy meant for their stronghold in Sanaa.
A secondary Houthi leader went as far as threatening to refer UN bodies to the coup-held judiciary areas under the group’s power grip since it staged a nationwide insurgency in 2014.
In a Houthi media broadcast, Mohammed Ali Al Houthi voiced discontent with the World Food Program’s statement accusing Houthis of impeding humanitarian delivery to areas of dire need and looting relief convoys.
The leader, dubbed head of the ‘revolutionary committee, called for bringing WFP operational missions in the area to a screeching halt in preparation to take the relief group to trial over slander.
The UN’s food agency demanded that Houthis put an “immediate end” to food diversion and hold accountable those responsible for food theft, saying it was not clear how much of their aid was actually reaching Yemenis.
A later statement by the WFP welcoming Houthis’ launching of investigations based on its claims clashed with the heated rhetoric expressed by low-rank officials. Houthis, apparently, have reluctantly responded to the UN body and promised a probe.
Meanwhile, the Yemen News Agency (Saba) reported that the WFP accused Houthi coup militias of transferring relief materials to non-eligible Yemenis.
In a statement, Herve Verhoosel, WFP spokesman in Geneva, said: “So far, our monitoring has identified seven centers in Sanaa city and we estimate that about 1,200 metric tons (600 MT/month) of food was diverted in August and September. But to put this into context, 600 metric tons is only about one percent of the food we provide on a monthly basis nationally.”
“It is our monitoring systems that detected there was a problem. We are committed to ensuring our food assistance reaches those who most need it,” Verhoosel added.
“About three months ago when we witnessed food being sold in bulk on Yemeni markets (i.e. oil in cartons of 6 and pulses in bags of 50 kg whereas oil is normally distributed as a can and pulses in plastic bags of 10 kg), we suspected that food was being diverted by a partner organization from distribution points. We immediately identified the location to which the food was being moved. We tracked and monitored suspected locations (about seven distribution centers in Sanaa city),” the UN official went on saying.
