The Stockholm agreement, signed last month under UN auspices between the legitimate government of Yemen and the Iranian-backed Houthi militia, was not only a good political move. It was also a qualitative step towards uncovering the facts on the ground.
The Yemeni Foreign Minister Khalid al-Yamani called the agreement on Hodeidah an achievement, as it involves the withdrawal of the Houthis for the first time since the coup against the legitimate government more than four years ago. “For the first time in the history of the coup led by the Houthi militias, they will withdraw from Hodeidah city and its port. The city will return to the legitimate authorities and it will remain a safe passage for humanitarian assistance.”
This agreement also involves revealing facts. When the dust settled, humanitarian organizations learned something completely new.
Over the past few years, the United Nations has been learning about the humanitarian situation in Yemen from biased or false reports. Institutions linked to regional countries that are hostile to the Arab Coalition produced reports to put the coalition under international pressure, prompt it to stop military operations, thereby allowing the Houthis to regain control of the Yemeni regions and provinces where they have been defeated.
Just a few days after the agreement was signed, the World Food Program accused the Houthis of diverting relief materials and demanded an investigation. “So far, our monitoring has identified seven centers in Sanaa city and we estimate that about 1,200 metric tons of food was diverted in August and September,” WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said in Geneva.
Verheuzel said the WFP officials noticed food being sold in bulk, and “suspected that food was being diverted by a partner organization from distribution points.”
This kind of conduct has been going on for four years. The Houthi militias deliberately seized and sold aid material in order to strengthen their financial resources and to buy the loyalty of their followers. They had no problem using the aid sent to the Yemeni people whom they claim defending.
Their other intention was to deepen the humanitarian crisis in Yemen and bleme the worsening reality in Yemen on the operations of the Arab coalition.
The Houthi militias know that smearing the image of the coalition and shaking its determination would be a great achievement for them and for their Iranian sponsors. The UAE, for example, is a country with a good reputation globally. Since its establishment in 1971, the UAE has been associated with charity and giving. That is why the Houthi putschists have been working, from the outset, to falsely blame the UAE and Saudi Arabia for the suffering in Yemen and get them to stop the military operations.
The UAE is a major humanitarian aid donor to Yemen. It also took many measures to open Yemen’s liberated areas for humanitarian aid. The UAE aid to Yemen between April 2015 and December 2018 amounted to 18.06 billion dirhams (US $ 4.91 billion) for over 17 million Yemenis, including 11 million children and 3.2 million women. It was not just food relief. The Emirates built schools, hospitals, roads, water and electricity stations, and other infrastructures to support development in Yemen.
As the situation on the ground gets clearer, the world will soon discover how the Houthis sought to sabotage Yemen for the one and only goal of serving Iran’s expansionist project in Arabia.
