Houthi crimes on continuous display: Looting aid organizations in Yemen
The Iranian-backed terrorist Houthi militia continues to
commit the most heinous crimes against Yemenis. In an indication of the
continued conflict by militia leaders over the donation funds that are supposed
to be provided to the Yemeni people, Houthi leader Abdul Mohsen Tawoos accused the
Minister of Water and Environment in the unrecognized Houthi coup government,
Nabil al-Wazir, of manipulating donation and aid funds and refraining from
coordinating with the National Authority for the Management and Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs.
Tawoos heads the National Authority for the Management and
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, an entity created by the Iranian-backed
Houthi militia as part of its plans to disrupt state institutions. It performs
the functions of the ministries of planning, roads, water, interior and foreign
affairs outside of the administrative structure of the legitimate agencies and
institutions.
Houthi activist Osama Sari published what he said were
documents related to financial and administrative corruption cases for Wazir
and UNICEF in Yemen.
Sari also accused Wazir of “misappropriating two purchase
deals of cars funded by UNICEF, at a total cost of about $670,000, including 13
cars purchased for the Environmental Protection Authority in 2019 without the
authority's knowledge,” reported local news site News Yemen.
Commenting on this, Tawoos said, “What emerged from the
files of the Ministry of Water and its projects in partnership with UNICEF took
place outside the authority’s [knowledge].”
Tawoos revealed an agreement with an organization to provide
15 million liters of diesel to a number of state institutions during the years
2017-2018, adding in this context, “But only approximately 5 million liters
have been provided.”
Sari posted on his Facebook page what he said were official
documents, accusing Wazir of “misappropriating an amount of about $199,000 from
the environmental assessment campaigns project for conflict-affected areas.”
He also accused the Houthi minister of “misappropriating
$1.8 million from the budget for financing spraying campaigns to combat the
cholera epidemic, misappropriating spray cars, and about $60,000 from the
budget for financing environmental inspection projects for hospitals provided
by UNICEF during 2018.”
In addition, the Houthis issued a decision to add the
ministers of interior, education, technical education and vocational training,
public works and roads, human rights, and local administration to the
membership of the board of directors of the National Authority for the
Management and Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and International
Cooperation, which is considered an indicator of the expanding alliances squandering
donation money.
It is worth noting that the United Nations received about $3
billion in international donations in 2019, less than its target of $4.2
billion. The Houthis asking for 2% of that budget would add between $60 million
and $80 million into the coffers of the Houthi aid coordination agency known as
the National Authority for the Management and Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs and International Cooperation.
Aid workers have said that harassment, intimidation, and
suspicion of embezzlement of funds by the Houthis have been going on for years
and have gotten worse since the rebels established their aid coordination
agency in early 2018.
Since then, Houthi-led security forces have arrested local
workers, blocked relief missions, or withheld supplies, according to internal
emails and documents reviewed by the Associated Press.
Over the past year, UN agencies began to reject the Houthis’
demands, which prompted the militia to narrow the work of the agencies, leading
the World Food Program to take multiple measures.
