Aid groups fear effects of U. S. sanctions on rebels
— Aid agencies were thrown into confusion Monday over the Trump administration’s outthedoor decision to designate Yemen’s Iranianbacked rebels as a terror organization, which they warned could wreck the tenuous relief system keeping millions alive in a country already near famine in the world’s worst humanitarian disaster.
The designation is to take effect on President Trump’s last full day in office, a day before Presidentelect Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20. Several aid groups pleaded Monday for Biden to immediately reverse the designation.
“Acting on day one cannot only be a figure of speech,” Oxfam America’s Humanitarian Policy Lead Scott Paul said. “Lives hang in the balance.”
Six years of war between a U. S. backed Arab coalition and the Iranianbacked Houthi rebels have been catastrophic for Yemen. Most of its 30 million people rely on international aid to survive. The U. N. says 13.5 million Yemenis already face acute food insecurity, a figure that could rise to 16 million by June.
Aid agencies said Monday they were struggling to figure out the implications of the designation, which would bring sanctions against the Houthis. Some were considering pulling out foreign staff. They warned that even if the U. S. grants humanitarian exceptions as Secretary of State Mike Pompeo promised Sunday, the move could snarl aid delivery, drive away banks and further damage an economy in which millions can’t afford to feed themselves.
The Houthis rule the capital and Yemen’s north where the majority of the population lives, forcing international aid groups to work with them. Agencies depend on the HouthCAIRO is to deliver aid and pay salaries to Houthis to do so. Still, the rebels have been implicated in stealing aid and using aid access to extort concessions and money, as well as in a catalog of human rights abuses including rape and torture of dissidents.
Houthi officials Monday were defiant over the U. S. designation.
“We are not fearful,” tweeted the head of the group’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali alHouthi. “America is the source of terrorism. It’s directly involved in killing and starving the Yemeni people.”
The U. S. move is part of the Trump administration’s broader effort to isolate and cripple Iran. It also shows support to its close ally, Saudi Arabia, which leads the antiHouthi coalition in the war. Saudi Arabia has advocated the terror designation, hoping it would pressure the rebels to reach a peace deal.