Houthis Threaten to Prevent UN Aid Flights from Landing at Sanaa Airport

Houthi militants in Sanaa on September 27, 2018. (AFP)
Houthi militants in Sanaa on September 27, 2018. (AFP)
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Houthis Threaten to Prevent UN Aid Flights from Landing at Sanaa Airport

Houthi militants in Sanaa on September 27, 2018. (AFP)
Houthi militants in Sanaa on September 27, 2018. (AFP)

The Iran-backed Houthi militias in Yemen have decided to prevent United Nations aid flights from landing at Sanaa airport in the latest attempt to extort the international community and avoid the implementation of the mechanism to organize the import of fuel through Hodeidah ports.

The decision was taken at a time when regions under Houthi control have been witnessing a severe fuel shortage for months.

The legitimate government had ordered the suspension of the import of fuel from Hodeidah after the Houthis violated the temporary UN-sponsored agreement, reached in 2019, and looted some 60 million dollars in fuel shipment revenues that were supposed to be dedicated to paying the salaries of public employees.

The transportation minister in the unrecognized Houthi government announced Sunday that the militias will bar UN aid shipments from unloading at Sanaa airport due to an alleged oil derivatives shortage at the facility. He also accused the UN of being “biased and ineffective”.

Contradicting Houthi allegations, a report by the legitimate government confirmed that the militias have enough fuel to meet demands until the end of October. It accused the Houthis of deliberately sparking the crisis in order to raise prices in the black market.

UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths had last week expressed his deep concern over the severe fuel shortage in Houthi-held regions, warning of its “catastrophic” impact on the people.

He said his office was in constant contact with the warring parties to reach an urgent solution that would ensure that fuel is imported through Hodeidah port and that the revenues would go to paying public sector wages.



Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
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Sudan Army Says Recaptures Key State Capital

Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP
Sudanese civilians displaced by offensive south of Khartoum earlier this year dream of returning to their homes after the regular army retakes territory - AFP

The Sudanese army said Saturday it had retaken a key state capital south of Khartoum from rival Rapid Support Forces who had held it for the past five months.

The Sennar state capital of Sinja is a strategic prize in the 19-month-old war between the regular army and the RSF as it lies on a key road linking army-controlled areas of eastern and central Sudan.

It posted footage on social media that it said had been filmed inside the main base in the city.

"Sinja has returned to the embrace of the nation," the information minister of the army-backed government, Khaled al-Aiser, said in a statement.

Aiser's office said armed forces chief Abdel Fattah al-Burhan had travelled to the city of Sennar, 60 kilometres (40 miles) to the north, on Saturday to "inspect the operation and celebrate the liberation of Sinja", AFP reported.

The RSF had taken the two cities in a lightning offensive in June that saw nearly 726,000 civilians flee, according to UN figures.

Human rights groups have said that those who were unwilling or unable to leave have faced months of arbitrary violence by RSF fighters.

Sinja teacher Abdullah al-Hassan spoke of his "indescribable joy" at seeing the army enter the city after "months of terror".

"At any moment, you were waiting for militia fighters to barge in and beat you or loot you," the 53-year-old told AFP by telephone.

Both sides in the Sudanese conflict have been accused of war crimes, including indiscriminately shelling homes, markets and hospitals.

The RSF has also been accused of summary executions, systematic sexual violence and rampant looting.

The RSF control nearly all of the vast western region of Darfur as well as large swathes of Kordofan in the south. They also hold much of the capital Khartoum and the key farming state of Al-Jazira to its south.

Since April 2023, the war has killed tens of thousands of people and uprooted more than 11 million -- creating what the UN says is the world's largest displacement crisis.

From the eastern state of Gedaref -- where more than 1.1 million displaced people have sought refuge -- Asia Khedr, 46, said she hoped her family's ordeal might soon be at an end.

"We'll finally go home and say goodbye to this life of displacement and suffering," she told AFP.