Yemen’s government agreed on Sunday with the United Nations World Food Program (WFP) on implementing a humanitarian plan for Yemen's west coast regions.
Yemeni Minister of Local Administration and chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief in Yemen Abdul Raqeeb Saif Fateh met with WFP representatives and discussed a comprehensive humanitarian aid plan for Mokha, in Taiz province, and which reaches to Hodeidah, reported official Yemeni news agency Saba.
Fateh met WFP officials and discussed the plan in the interim capital Aden.
“Agreement was reached on allocating 70,000 tons of relief and humanitarian materials necessary for all west coast areas for the initial stage,” Saba added.
Means to deliver aid safely across to those in need was also discussed.
According to Saba, mechanisms of delivering relief to Al-Bayda and Hajjah and all provinces affected significantly by the Houthi-waged war were addressed as well.
More so, the meeting tackled securing warehouses in Yemen’s Socotra governorate to store relief and shelter materials against any future rising emergency.
The officials addressed government efforts in advancing humanitarian work, while pushing forward infrastructure development and promotion of stability.
Fateh stressed the importance of relief organizations spending more urgent efforts towards the west coast, praising contributions made by the Gulf Cooperation Council in providing emergency aid for Hodeidah province.
Separately, the Saudi-led Arab coalition accused the Iran-backed Houthi militias of blocking relief ships seeking to dock at the Red Sea port of Hodeidah. The coalition said militias have been preventing the entry of two ships carrying oil products for over two months.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said Houthis intentionally disrupt and prevent the docking of ships at Hodeidah.
“The liberation of Hodeidah will secure navigation in the international waterways,” he said over the weekend.
Houthis have been in control of Hodeidah in western Yemen since their late 2014 coup against the internationally-recognized government headed by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.
They have repeatedly threatened to attack oil tankers using Bab al-Mandab, a major waterway between the Arabian Peninsula and Africa, linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and Suez Canal.
“Houthi militias are committing crimes against humanity, such as preventing the entry of relief ships and cutting basic services for the people of Hodeidah,” Yemeni government spokesman Rajih Badi told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“They have dug up trenches, blown up water and sanitation networks and inhibited mobility,” he added.
He said the Houthi actions amount to war crimes, calling on the international community to fight back against the agenda set out by terrorist militias to turn Hodeidah city into a tragic zone.
“There is still time to rid the city of these militias and to stop the crimes, terrorism and madness the Houthis are committing inside the city and at the port,” Badi stressed.
