Military intervention inevitable in Hodeida, says UAE chargé d’Affaires |25 June 2018
As part of its comprehensive plan to help and protect civilians from the impact of the military offensive to retake the port city of Hodeida, the United Arab Emirates has stockpiled 35,000 tonnes of food aid for Yemen.
Coalition and government forces in Hodeida are preparing to enter the rebel-held city after seizing the airport on its outskirts. The coalition-led operation in Hodeida incorporates both military and humanitarian goals and covers all eventualities, including destruction of the port by the rebels.
It is urging the international community to condemn the crimes committed by the Houthis and these include: abuse and ongoing confiscation of humanitarian aid and raise revenues to prolong the war; smuggling weapons and targetting the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; compromising the safety of maritime activities in the Red Sea; mining of civilian infrastructure; and forced recruitment of local civilians including children.
Speaking to Seychelles NATION yesterday, United Arab Emirates (UAE) chargé d’Affaires in Victoria, Ahmed Saeed Alneyadi, said the military intervention in the port city of Hodeida is inevitable because the Houthi rebels are controlling the port and stealing humanitarian aid to resell and then smuggle in arms from Iran.
It was in 2014 that the rebels seized the Yemeni capital, Sanaa and the port of Hodeida through which most of Yemen's food and humanitarian supplies enter.
“The intervention of the Arab coalition in Yemen and the ongoing operations around Hodeida port area are based on the request of the legitimate Yemeni government and in compliance with all relevant United Nations Security Council Resolutions on the crisis, including UN Security Council Resolutions 2216, 2204, 2201 and 2140,” said chargé d’affaires Ahmed Saeed Alneyadi, who added that the Arab coalition operations to liberate Hodeida are aimed at allowing Yemen’s legitimate government to restore security and stability to the strategic port, and to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in the country, and to break the deadlock in the political process.
He explained that “Houthi militias have exploited the Hodeida port to prolong the war and the suffering of the Yemeni people by using it to smuggle Iranian supplied arms and ballistic missiles into the country to target Saudi cities including Haram Sharif in the two Holy cities of Makah and Madinatul Munawwarah, and misusing the port’s revenues to finance their ongoing brutal militancy campaign”.
Officially called Ansar Allah (‘Supporters of God’), the Houthis are members of an Islamic religious-political-armed movement that emerged from Sa'dah in northern Yemen in the 1990s.
In an emergency meeting on June 14, 2018, the Arab League expressed its full support for the Arab coalition’s ongoing operations to liberate Hodeida port and put an end to the suffering of the people who are being targeted by the Houthi militias.
Mr Alneyadi further added that Houthis’ mismanagement of the port and seizure of humanitarian supplies has had a catastrophic impact on the humanitarian situation in Yemen. While the coalition’s aid shipments have frequently been confiscated by militias and found their way to the black market, this has not derailed the coalition’s commitment to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.
The chargé d’affaires also explained that in light of the Houthis’ failure to accept a political solution, and their repeated refusal to UN envoy’s proposals to hand over the port, the Arab coalition had no option but to pursue a military solution in order to protect innocent Yemeni civilians and to ensure a safe passage of aid shipments.
He pointed out that the UAE is committed to a political solution to the conflict in Yemen, adding that there are sufficient food stocks to sustain six million Yemenis for the next month.
Mr Alneyadi assured that the Arab coalition remains committed to working with the international community to ensure that the port’s liberation will have an immediate impact on increasing the volume of much-needed humanitarian aid to the country.
He stated that “the Hodeida port remains open to shipping and besides the coalition aid which exceeded US $14 billion to Yemen, it will continue to work with aid agencies on the ground to ensure that once the port is liberated we will quickly increase the capacity of the port and the amount of aid flowing through it”.
The chargé d’affaires added that the Arab coalition has notified the United Nations, and other non-governmental organisations of its planned actions and has ensured the safe passage of their staff from Hodeida ahead of time, as the coalition successfully implemented similar large-scale operations when it liberated Aden, Mukalla and Mocha which led to a considerable improvement in the lives of their people.
“In each area the coalition has liberated, the local people are now better off than under Houthis or AQAP control,” said Mr Alneyadi.
He also clarified that “the seizure of the port from the Houthi militants is aimed at tipping the scales in favour of reaching a political solution, and reigniting the momentum in the stalled UN negotiations, as by increasing the efficiency of the port and ensuring that the disbursement of aid will no longer be controlled and abused by Houthi militias, Hodeida’s liberation will serve to alleviate the needs of the Yemeni people and provide new momentum for finding a long-term solution to the crisis”.
The UAE is demanding an unconditional withdrawal of all Houthi forces from Hodeida as it says they seek to “manufacture a humanitarian crisis” by blocking aid from being unloaded at the port and destroying supplies of water in the city’s residential areas.
Meanwhile, UN’s special envoy to Yemen has expressed confidence that a deal can be struck between Houthi forces and the Saudi-backed Yemeni government to prevent an escalation of violence around the strategic port of Hodeida.
Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, the leader of the UN-recognised Yemeni government, has been in exile and is heavily dependent on Saudi sponsorship.