Red Sea crisis is hardest on aid dependants

▶ Many are angry about Gaza but sinking ships and disrupting vital food supplies helps no one

Against the backdrop of a failure to end the war on Gaza, the crisis in the Red Sea is worsening. Months of Houthi attacks on international shipping have sunk their first ship – the UK-registered Rubymar – and on Monday, US Central Command said missiles fired by the rebels struck the M/V MSC SKY II, a Liberian-flagged, Swiss-owned container vessel. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong telecoms company HGC Global Communications has said that four underwater cables in the Red Sea have been damaged, which has had “a significant impact on communication networks in the Middle East”.

Much has been written about the risks to global trade posed by such attacks that, on the face of it, are being carried out by the Yemeni militants to show their opposition to the US, Israel and their allies. Although people in the region and further afield are frustrated at the international community’s inability to end Gaza’s suffering, the Houthis’ tactics are endangering civilians, including Yemenis.

Last week, the International Rescue Committee said a decision by its carrier to suspend operations in the Red Sea had forced the charity to “seek alternative routes, which are longer and more costly”. The cost and risk of sending aid and supplies through the Red Sea have been highlighted by other humanitarians, too.

In January, 26 aid bodies signed a joint statement expressing “grave concern over the humanitarian impacts of the recent military escalation in Yemen and the Red Sea” adding that “escalation will only worsen the situation for vulnerable civilians and hinder the ability of aid organisations to deliver critical services”. A February report from the Food Security Cluster – jointly led by the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation, and World Food Programme – said that continued disruption in the Red Sea could “reduce food imports to Yemeni ports, increase the cost of imports because of higher insurance premiums and increase prices of basic food and non-food items, and reduce household purchasing power”.

While the risks posed to humanitarian aid are devastating, the Houthis’ sinking of the Rubymar, which was carrying thousands of tonnes of fertiliser, could threaten the region’s marine life. The Middle East division of Greenpeace this week warned that the release of this much fertiliser could affect the pH balance of the seawater and cause a major algae bloom. That would produce a massive influx of nitrogen that would affect the Red Sea’s ecosystem. Given the international effort that went into averting another environmental disaster – the FSO Safer oil tanker off the coast of Hodeidah – endangering more of Yemen’s ecosystem is a step back.

In a recent UN Security Council report, the UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, pointed to the need “to stop public provocations, refrain from military opportunism inside Yemen, and refocus on safeguarding the progress made to date in the peace talks”. This opportunism by the Houthis is damaging livelihoods of some of the region’s most vulnerable people. Global trade can weather the shipping disruption in the Red Sea – people who depend on aid cannot.