Yemen’s legitimate government denounced on Thursday the new fuel crisis created by the Houthi militias in Sanaa and areas under their control.
The crisis will double the suffering of millions of Yemenis and exacerbate the humanitarian situation amid the current coronavirus outbreak and revival of the black market, the government stressed.
It hinted that new measures will be taken per consultations with the United Nations.
This came in response to the militias’ violation of a previous agreement on regulating the import of oil derivatives and allocating fees for financial revenues from the ports of Hodeidah.
According to official Yemeni sources, the Supreme Economic Council addressed in a video conference chaired by Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik the Iranian-backed group’s evasion of earlier understandings reached under the UN auspices.
These include importing oil derivatives to the port of Hodeidah, implementing international controls to combat money laundering and terrorist financing, drying out the war economy, and limiting the illegal trade in oil in Yemen.
The council also discussed the militias’ looting of the Central Bank revenues in Hodeidah, which both sides earlier agreed to disburse as salaries for public sector employees.
“The group attempts to mislead the public opinion by claiming that oil derivative ships are being held by the legitimate government and the coalition to support legitimacy,” it noted in a statement.
It also said that the militias are proceeding with their approach to deepen the humanitarian catastrophe and use it as a political blackmail without taking the citizens’ suffering into account.
The council called on the UN to take a clear position on the militias’ renunciation from the agreement and their intentional delay in unloading fuel and food shipments in the port of Hodeidah and preventing their entry with the aim of causing crises and exploiting citizens’ suffering to serve their coup project.
During the meeting, a number of alternative options and measures were discussed and approved to address these issues.
Participants agreed to coordinate and consult with the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths regarding the coming steps.
