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Houthi Network Loots Humanitarian Aid Sent to Devastated Yemenis

Flour is loaded at Hodeidah port. (AFP)
Flour is loaded at Hodeidah port. (AFP)
    Aden - Waddah al-Jalil
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Houthi Network Loots Humanitarian Aid Sent to Devastated Yemenis

Flour is loaded at Hodeidah port. (AFP)
Flour is loaded at Hodeidah port. (AFP)

The Iran-backed Houthi militias have set new conditions for international humanitarian aid agencies and UN programs operating in Yemeni areas under their control, forcing the relief organizations to give up the personal data of aid beneficiaries.

In the meantime, Asharq Al-Awsat uncovered documents and information from judiciary sources showing how the Houthis have established an entire network dedicated to looting humanitarian aid sent to impoverished Yemenis and redirecting it to serve and benefit the group’s militiamen.

According to public prosecution records in Sanaa, the Houthis have manipulated, seized, and sold relief aid destined to Yemenis. The donations, including aid from the World Food Program (WFP), were then sold to merchants loyal to the Houthis.

In a 2018 prosecution report prepared by militia authorities in Sanaa, Houthi inspectors raided the warehouses of a merchant called Hamid Hussein al-Kabous.

Initially, the group was seeking to seize banned pesticides and toxic material, but instead grabbed 131 wheat sacks, 95 tin cans of green peas, each tin weighing 50 kg, and 544 packages of WFP aid. WFP labels, clearly prohibiting the selling or importing of the aid, are slapped on all the seized products.

The Houthis then covered up their findings with another report that accused al-Kabous’ brother, Taha, of possessing WFP aid. The other report mentioned nothing of the pesticides found stored next to food aid.

A judicial source in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat that these two reports reveal three crimes: manipulating aid, smuggling toxic pesticides, and storing pesticides next to foodstuffs.

Moreover, the Houthis have put restrictions on delivery and distribution of aid to some 19 million Yemeni living in areas under their control.

The militias are demanding that the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) apply for a permit from their authorities before resuming work in Houthi-run parts of Yemen.

By applying to the permit, the international body would be required to present all the information pertaining to beneficiaries in Yemen.

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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
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Egypt Says GERD Lacks Legally Binding Agreement

This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)
This grab taken from video shows Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, Ethiopia, Feb. 20, 2022. (AP Photo)

Egypt said Friday that Ethiopia has consistently lacked the political will to reach a binding agreement on its now-complete dam, an issue that involves Nile River water rights and the interests of Egypt and Sudan.

Ethiopia’s prime minister said Thursday that the country’s power-generating dam, known as the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), on the Nile is now complete and that the government is “preparing for its official inauguration” in September.

Egypt has long opposed the construction of the dam, because it would reduce the country's share of Nile River waters, which it almost entirely relies on for agriculture and to serve its more than 100 million people.

The more than the $4 billion dam on the Blue Nile near the Sudan border began producing power in 2022. It’s expected to eventually produce more than 6,000 megawatts of electricity — double Ethiopia’s current output.

Ethiopia and Egypt have spent years trying to reach an agreement over the dam, which Ethiopia began building in 2011.

Both countries reached no deal despite negotiations over 13 years, and it remains unclear how much water Ethiopia will release downstream in case of a drought.

Egyptian officials, in a statement, called the completion of the dam “unlawful” and said that it violates international law, reflecting “an Ethiopian approach driven by an ideology that seeks to impose water hegemony” instead of equal partnership.

“Egypt firmly rejects Ethiopia’s continued policy of imposing a fait accompli through unilateral actions concerning the Nile River, which is an international shared watercourse,” Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation said in a statement Friday.

Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed, in his address to lawmakers Thursday, said that his country “remains committed to ensuring that our growth does not come at the expense of our Egyptian and Sudanese brothers and sisters.”

“We believe in shared progress, shared energy, and shared water,” he said. “Prosperity for one should mean prosperity for all.”

However, the Egyptian water ministry said Friday that Ethiopian statements calling for continued negotiations “are merely superficial attempts to improve its image on the international stage.”

“Ethiopia’s positions, marked by evasion and retreat while pursuing unilateralism, are in clear contradiction with its declared willingness to negotiate,” the statement read.

However, Egypt is addressing its water needs by expanding agricultural wastewater treatment and improving irrigation systems, according to the ministry, while also bolstering cooperation with Nile Basin countries through backing development and water-related projects.