UNITED NATIONS: The UN Security Council has commended Saudi Arabia and the UAE after the two countries pledged $200 million in humanitarian relief assistance for Yemenis for Ramadan.
Council members voiced their concern that agreements between the Yemeni government and Houthis in Stockholm four months ago were yet to be implemented and called for their immediate implementation.
In a press statement, the council affirmed its support for the Stockholm agreement, and its backing for the special envoy of the secretary-general to Yemen and the chairman of the Coordinating Committee for Redeployment.
The relief assistance has been allocated to UN partners: $140 million to the World Food Programme, $40 million to UNICEF to address sanitation issues and malnutrition among children and mothers, and $20 million to the World Health Organization to tackle cholera and provide intravenous feeding fluids.
“Transgressions by Houthi militia will not stop us from supporting Yemen, especially with the holy month of Ramadan upon us,” said Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah, supervisor general of the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center (KSRelief).
“We must recognize that the Saudi-led coalition forces (supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government) ensure the assistance reaches ports or land. However, when the aid reaches militia-controlled regions, there are obstacles preventing beneficiaries from gaining proper access to humanitarian aid. That starvation method is a political tool that the Houthis use to control Yemen,” he said.
Those responsible for these abuses must be held accountable, Al-Rabeeah added.
