Yemen: Houthi uses truce to finance war

The Yemeni government on Sunday called on the international community to put pressure on Houthi militias to prevent violations of the truce and to operate flights at Sanaa airport as a humanitarian priority that cannot be delayed.

The Yemeni government reiterated, through Foreign Minister Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, its commitment to implement the truce with all its elements without selectivity, despite the continued military violations by the Houthi militia.

The Yemeni minister expressed his “regret that the Houthi militias continue to impose suffering on Yemenis and work to trade that suffering to achieve their political agenda”.

He noted that the militias, as usual, are trying to hold national and international parties, including the UN envoy, responsible for obstructing the implementation of the rest of the truce.

The Yemeni Foreign Minister added: “More than a month has passed since the period of the humanitarian truce, and the Houthi militias continue to obstruct the operation of flights at Sana’a airport and the opening of roads in Taiz, despite the government’s keenness to implement the truce in all its terms, which will contribute to alleviating the human suffering of Yemenis”.

“It was agreed to operate flights at Sanaa airport in accordance with operational procedures at Aden and Seiyun airports”, he said. “The government worked to complete internal technical procedures and obtain the licenses and approvals from the receiving country”.

Bin Mubarak said the government was surprised by the Houthis’ disruption of flights through Sanaa Airport by imposing registration of passengers with unrecognized passports and rejecting the government’s options to issue government passports to non-holders without having to travel to liberated provinces. The government also made several alternative proposals.

He pointed out that the Houthi militias proved through selectivity in dealing with the axis of the truce that their priority is to collect funds to finance the war machine and enrich its leaders at the expense of torturing the Yemeni people.

The Yemeni minister pointed out that the Houthi militias earn 90 billion Yemeni riyals from oil derivatives during the two months of the truce and evade the obligation to pay the salaries of employees. In return, the government committed to facilitating the entry of the derivative ships in accordance with the agreement in a series of ways.