Houthis Loot $200 Million from Hodeidah Port… Details
After disappearing for a few months, the specter of conflict over Yemen’s ports has resurfaced. The Yemeni government revealed on Friday evening the extent of revenues that the Houthi group has obtained from oil derivatives entering through the Hodeidah Port (west), which they have controlled since the start of the ceasefire in April 2022. The government confirmed that these revenues amounted to about $200 million after the arrival of 157 fuel ships at the port.
Yemen’s Information Minister, Muammar al-Eryani, stated: “A total of 157 ships loaded with oil were allowed to enter and unload their cargo at the Hodeidah Port since the announcement of the UN ceasefire in April 2022.”
He further explained in a statement published by the official news agency (SABA) that “the ships unloaded approximately 4,098,067 metric tons of oil derivatives.”
He pointed out that “the Houthi group collected 200 billion Yemeni riyals, equivalent to around $200 million, from the revenue of fuel imported to the port.”
Al-Eryani accused the Houthi group of “misleading” the Yemeni public opinion and the international community regarding its profits from oil derivatives. He considered that these revenues “are sufficient to cover the salaries of state employees and retirees regularly in the areas under the control of the group.”
He noted that the Houthi group “imposes a tax and customs fee of $120 per ton of oil derivatives entering through the Hodeidah Port, equivalent to 50 Yemeni riyals per liter, totaling 200 billion Yemeni riyals, which have been collected by the militias from the quantities imported to the Hodeidah Port since the start of the UN ceasefire.”
He clarified that “these figures are limited only to the direct returns that the Houthi militias obtained during a year and a half of the ceasefire from oil derivatives imported through the Hodeidah Port,” in contrast to the billions they collect from tax and customs fees imposed on food and consumer goods, as well as free gas shipments coming from Iran through the port.
Al-Eryani called on the international community, the United Nations, and the permanent member states of the Security Council to break their silence and fulfill their duties in pressuring the Houthi militias to stop their policy of hunger and intentional impoverishment of citizens. He urged for allocating the revenues from all ships entering the Hodeidah Port to pay the salaries of state employees.
The issue of salaries for state sector employees in Houthi-controlled areas remains one of the main obstacles that hampers progress and reaching an agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthi group. This has led to the non-renewal of the UN-sponsored ceasefire in the country.
The legitimate government of Yemen stipulates transferring all financial revenues in Houthi-controlled areas to the Central Bank in Aden in exchange for delivering salaries to employees in regions under the group’s control. However, the Houthi group insists that “salaries should be paid throughout Yemen from the revenues of oil and gas controlled by the government.”
Yemen has been experiencing a war between forces loyal to the legitimate government and the Houthi group, which has controlled provinces, including the capital Sanaa, since 2014.
