Houthi militias in Yemen held a funeral service for a number of illegal African migrants that have died on battlefronts alongside their ranks.
The Yemeni internationally recognized government and rights groups condemned Houthis exploiting those who arrived in Yemen illegally and considered the recruitment of migrants a war crime and a violation of humanitarian conventions.
Houthi coupists have recently amped their recruitment of illegal migrants, well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat, explaining that the group also uses them to collect funds in exchange for helping them cross into neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Early on this week, Houthis arranged a funeral for an Ethiopian recruit, Mohammed Helm Mohammadou, who had died on the battlefront against Yemeni government forces in Jawf governorate.
Houthis have been losing great ground in battles in Jawf governorate. Many of the group’s leaders and militants have been killed there.
In another funeral service, Houthis raised the pictures of their so-called "martyrs" which included a number of African migrants from Ethiopia and Somalia, sources revealed.
African migrants in Houthi-held Sanaa are being hunted down and arrested by militants who are looking into forcing refugee families to give up their children for forcible recruitment, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
One of the sources, speaking under the conditions of anonymity, said that Houthis rely of African refugees to replenish their depleted ranks after Yemeni Arab tribes refusing to fight alongside them in Al Bayda, Marib, Jawf and Nihim battlefronts.
International and local reports have warned against the Houthi recruitment campaigns targeting illegal African migrants who braved the sea to arrive at Yemen.
The same reports warned that Houthis, after recruitment, are using the deployed African migrants as human shields.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 11,000 migrants have arrived monthly to Yemen throughout 2019 from the Horn of Africa.
IOM said that the number of African migrants in Yemen through the years 2018 and 2019 exceeds the number of migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe despite the war in Yemen, where more than 280,000 Africans arrived in Yemen during the two years.
