US imposes sanctions on senior Houthi military leaders
▶ $1.7bn is less than half of what is needed to halt famine, says Guterres
The Biden administration imposed sanctions on two senior Houthi military leaders yesterday for prolonging the war in Yemen and exacerbating the country’s humanitarian crisis.
Mansour Al Saadi is the chief of staff of the Houthi naval forces and “has masterminded lethal attacks against international shipping in the Red Sea”, the US Department of the Treasury said.
It said Al Saadi “has received extensive training in Iran [and] has also helped smuggle Iranian weapons into Yemen”.
Ahmad Al Hamzi is the commander of the Houthi-aligned Yemeni air force and air defence forces, as well as its drone programme. The US accuses him of acquiring Iranian weapons to use in the conflict.
Fighting erupted in Yemen in 2014, when the rebel group seized Sanaa and much of the country’s cities in the north. A Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 on behalf of the internationally recognised government of Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi.
Al Saadi and Al Hamzi received training in Iran, according to the US, and are responsible for “orchestrating attacks by Houthi forces affecting Yemeni civilians, bordering nations and commercial vessels in international waters”.
The measures are the first by the Biden administration against the Houthi rebels and draw a direct link between the group and Iran. “These actions, which were done to advance the Iranian regime’s destabilising agenda, have fuelled the Yemeni conflict, displacing more than one million people and pushing Yemen to the brink of famine,” the Treasury said.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said donors had pledged a “disappointing” $1.7 billion for relief efforts in Yemen, far short of the $3.85bn needed for a country on the brink of famine.
Mr Guterres criticised the weak response at a UN pledging conference, hosted online by Switzerland and Sweden on Monday, as humanitarians warned of cutbacks to food handouts in the Arab world’s poorest country.
“Millions of Yemeni children, women and men desperately need aid to live. Cutting aid is a death sentence,” he said.
“The best that can be said about today is that it represents a down payment. I thank those who did pledge generously and I ask others to consider again what they can do to help stave off the worst famine the world has seen in decades.”
Last year, aid agencies received about $1.9bn – half of what was needed and half of what was given the previous year, according to David Miliband, head of the International Rescue Committee.
At the conference, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken increased this year’s funding from America to more than $350 million, while UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation Reem Al Hashimy announced a $230m pledge.
Jan Egeland, head of the Norwegian Refugee Council, a charity operating in Yemen, said he was disappointed at the low level of funding for the crisis and warned of “massive cuts to emergency food, water, shelter and medical support”.
“Yemen needs three things to avert a catastrophe: more money that we can use today; a famine-prevention ceasefire; and full access to people in need,” Mr Egeland said.
“The shortfall in humanitarian aid will be measured in lives lost.”
Donors met amid renewed fighting in Yemen’s civil war, with the Iran-backed Houthis attacking Marib, the government’s last northern stronghold, about 120 kilometres east of the rebel-held capital, Sanaa.
There are hopes that the administration of US President Joe Biden could revive a stalled peace process.
Fighting erupted in Yemen in 2014, when the Houthis seized Sanaa and other northern cities.
An Arab military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and backed by the US and Britain intervened in 2015 in a bid to restore the internationally recognised government of Yemeni President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi to power.
The war has killed about 130,000 people and displaced millions, international monitors say, pushing Yemen to the brink of famine and what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
“The only path to peace is through an immediate, nationwide ceasefire and a set of confidence-building measures, followed by an inclusive, Yemeni-led political process under United Nations auspices and supported by the international community,” Mr Guterres said. “There is no other solution.”
The Secretary General said Yemen faced the worst famine the world had seen in decades