A Yemeni government official said that Houthi and Saleh militias have seized a truck loaded with medicines for children in Ibb governorate.
He revealed that the number of violations, including looting, detaining and selling in the black market, has amounted to 48 since the beginning of 2017.
Yemeni Minister of Local Administration and Chairman of the Higher Committee for Relief Abdul-Raqib Fateh said that the detained cargo of children's medicines, which was supposed to reach Hodeidah Governorate and is provided by the Child Welfare Organization, was seized at the customs outlets established by the coup militias at a number of entrances to Ibb Governorate.
He said that looting humanitarian aid and medical cargoes is considered a terrorist act that aggravates the humanitarian situation in the country, stressing that it does not bear any more complications.
The minister called on the international community to pressure coup militias to hand over all airports and ports to the internationally-recognized legitimate government under the leadership of President Abd-Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.
He also urged UN organizations to force the militias to stop their practices and violations against the people in Hodeidah and all other governorates and to supply sewage plants with oil derivatives.
He said that if the ports remained under Houthi control, more disasters will occur, especially that the militias are detaining ships loaded with relief and humanitarian aid, and they are using their authority to smuggle weapons and affect the security of regional and international navigation.
Humanitarian Coordinator for Yemen Jamie Mcgoldrick called for urgent action to pressure the militia to release the loaded truck, to unequivocally condemn all violations aginst humanitarian relief, and to specify clear positions on such violations.
Mcgoldrick stressed the need for all UN agencies to implement the principle of decentralization of relief work through opening five main administrative offices in the capitals of the regions, increase their staff in these offices to facilitate rapid humanitarian access to the needy in all governorates, and prevent the detention and looting of aid by the militia.
