New Houthi-minted currency increases economic divide in Yemen

A new coin currency issued by the Houthi-run Sanaa-based Central Bank of Yemen is displayed on a screen during a press conference in Sanaa, Yemen, March 30, 2024. (REUTERS)
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Updated 31 March 2024
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New Houthi-minted currency increases economic divide in Yemen

  • Militia accused of attempting to cover up deaths of people in central province of Radda after blowing up their homes

AL-MUKALLA: Yemen’s Houthi militia has issued a new 100-riyal coin for the first time in nearly a decade, a move that sparked the ire of the Aden-based central bank.

Hashem Ismael, the governor of the Houthi-controlled central bank, revealed during a news conference in Sanaa on Sunday that they had produced a new 100-riyal coin, which will go into circulation on Sunday and replace the damaged 100-riyal banknote.

The Houthi official did not provide many details as to how they minted the new currency but did state that it was coined in accordance with the “latest international specifications and standards” and that they planned to introduce coin currencies in lesser quantity.

In Aden, the central bank described the Houthi move as “illegal” and “escalatory” and urged residents and financial institutions in Houthi-controlled areas to avoid using the new “fake” currency.

“The militia will be held accountable for this irresponsible escalation, as well as the resulting complexity and uncertainty in people’s transactions with financial and banking institutions,” the central bank in Aden said in its statement.

The Houthi central bank allayed concerns about the potential devolution of the Yemeni riyal in certain areas or the legal grounds for issuing the new coin currency by stating that the new currency would replace existing banknotes in the market that are in short supply and that the new coin was issued under the bank’s regulations.

Yemen is separated into two economic areas: one in the southern city of Aden, held by the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and the other in Sanaa, controlled by Iran-backed Houthis.

The Yemeni government moved the central bank’s headquarters from Sanaa to Aden in 2016 after accusing the Houthis of stealing the bank’s funds and using them to support their war effort.

The Houthis replied by ceasing to pay public employees in regions under their control, as well as prohibiting residents from using Aden-issued banknotes.

The Houthis also began an economic war against the Yemeni government, preventing traders from importing commodities through Yemeni government-controlled ports and attacking oil terminals in Hadramout and Shabwa.

In the Houthi territory, the Yemeni riyal is traded at 533 riyals per dollar, whereas in government-controlled territories, it is traded at 1,661 riyals per dollar.

When the Houthis seized power by force in late 2014, the riyal traded at 215 per dollar.

Mustafa Nasr, director of the Studies and Economic Media Center, said that launching the new coin currency will deepen the economic divide and worsen the economic war between the Yemeni government and the Houthis.

He added that the Houthis would issue further new currencies.

“This measure serves as a test of the pulse to continue producing further monetary denominations of currency as needed, as well as establishing an independent economy,” Nasr said.

He argues that the impact of the Houthi move will be determined by responses from Aden’s central bank and international monetary agencies, as well as the volume of the new coin money in circulation.

“Despite the higher expense of minting coins, the Houthi group prefers them because they are easier to mint and obtain.”

Meanwhile, Yemen’s government and human rights advocates have accused the Houthis of attempting to cover up the deaths of people in the central province of Radda after blowing up their homes.

On March 19, the Houthis detonated a house in Radaa, Al-Bayda, killing at least nine civilians from one family and injuring dozens more.

The Houthis agreed to reconstruct the damaged houses, recompense the families of the deceased, and prosecute those responsible for the deaths.

Nasser Ali Al-Sanae, a Yemeni activist from Radaa who fled Houthi repression and now lives in Marib city, says that the Houthis forced Ibrahim Al-Raimi, the family’s last living member, to sign a document to bury his family and that the Houthis have not tried any of the soldiers who blew up the houses.

The Houthis said they had questioned the soldiers and compensated the affected families.

 


Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

Updated 51 min 43 sec ago
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Belgian journalists injured in Beirut bombing

  • Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border
  • The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives

Brussels: Two Belgian journalists were injured in Lebanon while reporting on overnight air raids in Beirut, their employer said Thursday, as fighting raged between Israel and Hezbollah.
VTM correspondent Robin Ramaekers suffered facial injuries and cameraman Stijn De Smet was being treated for a leg wound, said a statement by the broadcaster’s parent company, DPG Media.
“Last night there was a bombing in central Beirut. When Robin and Stijn wanted to run a report on that, they got injured,” the firm said, adding the pair were being treated in hospital.
“Both are now in safety and are being cared for.”
The circumstances of the incident were not yet clear, the company said. Belgium’s foreign ministry said it was closely monitoring the situation.
Israel has been carrying out a bombing campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon and has also sent its troops across the border.
On Thursday, the Israeli military pounded Beirut with overnight air raids. A total of 17 strikes had hit the capital by dawn, Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA) reported.
One of the strikes hit a Hezbollah rescue facility, a source close to the group told AFP, killing at least six people, according to a Lebanese health ministry toll.
Israel says it is trying to secure its border with Lebanon so tens of thousands of Israelis displaced by nearly a year of hostilities with Hezbollah can return home.
The bombardments in Lebanon have cost more than 1,000 lives and seen Hezbollah’s long-time chief Hassan Nasrallah killed.
Authorities in Lebanon say that around a million people have been displaced.
Last year, a journalist was killed and six other reporters, including two from AFP, wounded by Israeli shelling while covering the cross-border fighting in southern Lebanon.


Palestinian activist Issa Amro wins prize for peaceful resistance

Updated 03 October 2024
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Palestinian activist Issa Amro wins prize for peaceful resistance

  • 44-year-old founded Youth Against Settlements group, which campaigns against proliferation of Jewish settlements in West Bank
  • When university where he was studying closed in 2003 during Second Intifada, Amro successfully led six-month civil disobedience campaign

Stockholm: Palestinian activist Issa Amro on Thursday accepted the Right Livelihood prize — considered by some an alternative Nobel — for his “nonviolent resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation” in the West Bank, the jury said.
Amro was born in the city of Hebron, a flashpoint West Bank city where roughly 1,000 Jewish settlers live under heavy Israeli military protection amid some 200,000 Palestinians.
He has dedicated his life to fighting against Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.
The 44-year-old founded the Youth Against Settlements group, which campaigns against the proliferation of Jewish settlements in the territory — communities widely regarded as illegal under international law.
The rights campaigner has been repeatedly detained and tortured by both the Palestinian Authority and by Israel, the foundation said.
“It’s a miracle that I still exist,” said Amro.
When Palestine Polytechnic University, where he was studying, closed in 2003 during the Second Intifada, Amro successfully led a six-month civil disobedience campaign.
“I managed to reopen the university with other students,” Amro said in a statement.
“I graduated as an engineer and as an activist — it became part of my character,” he added.
The Sweden-based Right Livelihood Foundation also honored Joan Carling, a Filipino champion of indigenous rights and Anabela Lemos, a climate activist from Mozambique.
It also gave the nod to research agency Forensic Architecture for its work in uncovering human rights violations around the world.
The foundation said the four prize winners had “each made a profound impact on their communities and the global stage.”
“Their unwavering commitment to speaking out against forces of oppression and exploitation, while strictly adhering to non-violent methods, resonates far beyond their communities,” Right Livelihood said in a statement.
Carling from the Philippines was recognized for having defended the rights of indigenous communities for three decades, particularly in their fight against mining projects.
The foundation celebrated Lemos, who heads the NGO Justica Ambiental (JA!), for her role in opposing liquefied natural gas extraction projects in northern Mozambique.
Forensic Architecture, a London-based research laboratory known for 3D modelling conflict zones, won the distinction for “pioneering digital forensic methods” to ensure accountability of human rights violations around the world.
By teaming up with Ukraine’s Center for Spatial Technologies to reconstruct Mariupol’s Drama Theatre before it was destroyed in 2022, the firm highlighted Russia’s “strategies of terror” and “attempts to obscure evidence of their own crimes,” the foundation said.
Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull sold part of his stamp collection to found the Right Livelihood award in 1980, after the foundation behind the Nobel Prizes refused to create new distinctions honoring efforts in the fields of environment and international development.


41,788 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7, health ministry says

Updated 03 October 2024
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41,788 Palestinians killed in Gaza offensive since Oct. 7, health ministry says

  • Ninety-nine Palestinians have been killed and 169 wounded in the past 24 hours

CAIRO: Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip has killed at least 41,788 Palestinians and wounded 96,794 since Oct. 7, the Palestinian enclave’s health ministry said on Thursday.
Ninety-nine Palestinians have been killed and 169 wounded in the past 24 hours, the ministry said in a statement.
Medics said scores of people were killed a day before in an Israeli strike that hit a school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City, while another struck the Al-Amal Orphan Society, which also houses displaced persons.
As the war in Gaza triggered by the cross-border Hamas attack on Israel nears its first anniversary on Oct. 7, there has been no let-up in Israeli military operations against the Palestinian Islamist group. The enclave has been left in ruins.


Iran Revolutionary Guards consultant dies from injuries in Israeli strike on Damascus

Updated 03 October 2024
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Iran Revolutionary Guards consultant dies from injuries in Israeli strike on Damascus

  • The attack appeared to be the same as one reported by Syrian state media,which said that three civilians were killed and nine others injured

DUBAI: A consultant working for Iran’s Revolutionary Guards has died from injuries sustained in an Israeli air attack on the Syrian capital Damascus on Monday, Iran’s Student News Network reported on Thursday.
It identified the consultant as Majid Divani, without giving further details.
The attack appeared to be the same as one reported by Syrian state media, which said on Tuesday that three civilians were killed and nine others injured in an Israeli airstrike on the Syrian capital Damascus.
Syrian air defenses intercepted “hostile targets” over the vicinity of Damascus three times in a row in one night, following explosions that were heard in the capital, state media said on Tuesday.
When asked about the reported attack, the Israeli military said on Tuesday that it does not comment on foreign media reports.
Israel has been carrying out strikes against Iran-linked targets in Syria for years but has ramped up such raids since last year’s Oct. 7 attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas on southern Israel.


EU announces extra 30 mln euros humanitarian aid for Lebanon

Updated 03 October 2024
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EU announces extra 30 mln euros humanitarian aid for Lebanon

  • This comes in addition to the 10 million euros already announced on Sept. 29

BRUSSELS: The European Commission announced on Thursday an extra $33.1 million in humanitarian aid for Lebanon, which has been hit by clashes between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah.
"I am extremely concerned by the constant escalation of tensions in the Middle East. All parties must do their outmost to protect the lives of innocent civilians," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
This comes in addition to the 10 million euros already announced on Sept. 29 and brings total EU humanitarian assistance to the country to over 104 million euros this year.