UN to increase Yemen aid ships inspections

The move comes as Iran-backed Al Houthi militia steps up attacks on Saudi Arabia

The United Nations is beefing up its inspections of ships bringing humanitarian aid to Yemen to ensure that no military items are being smuggled and to speed delivery of desperately-needed relief supplies, UN and Saudi officials say.

The move comes as the armed Al Houthi militia controlling much of northern Yemen steps up attacks on Saudi Arabia, hitting an oil tanker in the Red Sea on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supplying missiles to Al Houthis, who have taken over the Yemeni capital Sana’a and other parts of the country.

Under an arms embargo imposed by the UN Security Council, monitors from the UN Verification and Inspection Mechanism (UNVIM) are based in ports in Djibouti, Dubai, Jeddah and Salalah to observe screening of cargo destined for Yemen.

“We met with the UNVIM director and his team in Riyadh and we agreed on improved and enhanced capability,” Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammad Al Jaber told reporters in Geneva on Wednesday.

He said UNVIM would increase its inspectors to 10 from four and its monitors to 16 from six and would also improve its technology to inspect ships.

Inspectors and monitors

The team supporting the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Yemen Lise Grande confirmed to Reuters on Thursday those steps taken to increase the number of monitors and inspectors and the use of scanning equipment.

A major UN pledging conference on Yemen was held last week, drawing pledges of more than $2 billion (Dh7.34 billion) toward a $3 billion UN humanitarian appeal.

Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which lead coalition air strikes in Yemen in support of the internationally-recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, have contributed $500 million each.

“We are cooperating with the UNVIM and other UN organisations to facilitate and to increase the amount of ships that arrive to Hodeida port,” Al Jaber said, referring to Yemen’s main port for humanitarian and commercial goods, under Al Houthi control. UNVIM only checks commercial and aid ships going to northern ports under Houthi control — Hodeida, Salif and Ras Eisa — and not to Aden, which is under government control.

Humanitarian crisis

Yemen, the Arabian peninsula’s poorest country, is reeling from the world’s worst humanitarian crisis where 22 million people need vital assistance.

The Saudi-led Arab coalition entered the Yemeni war in 2015 just months after an Al Houthi coup forced internationally-recognised Yemeni president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi out of power.

He later was able to escape house arrest and flee to Aden where he temporarily shifted government headquarters.

Since then, the coalition has gained back 86 per cent of Yemeni territory but major population centres still remain under Al Houthi control.

Saudi Arabia and the US have accused Iran of illegally smuggling weapons into Yemen to sustain Al Houthi war efforts.

In December, one such Iranian-made ballistic missile was fired towards Riyadh for the first time in the threeyear war.

Although it was intercepted, Riyadh called it an ‘act of war’.