Saudi Aid to Yemen Part of War on Nation: Aid Agency

  An international aid agency has accused the Saudi regime of politicizing humanitarian aid delivery to poor Yemenis by attempting to consolidate control over access and transit points.

In a statement on Thursday, the International Rescue Committee said the Saudi regime politicizes aid by attempting to consolidate control over access and transit points. The statement added that rather than endorsing a parallel plan, which was created without broad input from humanitarian actors, the Saudi Led Coalition and its supporters, notably the US and UK, should work to ensure the full implementation of the existing UN humanitarian plan.

The statement added that the Saudi-backed Yemen Comprehensive Humanitarian Operations (YCHO), announced on January 22, 2018, is neither comprehensive, nor reflective of clear, shared humanitarian priorities.

“The name in itself is misleading: it is neither comprehensive, nor particularly humanitarian,” said Amanda Catanzano, senior policy and advocacy director at the International Rescue Committee. “The Saudi-led coalition is offering to fund a response to address the impact of a crisis it helped to create. The acute crisis in Yemen needs more than what appears to be a logistical operations plan, with token gestures of humanitarian aid.”

The Saudi plan, despite the “comprehensive” moniker, is short on detail. But even in its abbreviated form, the IRC sees many red flags that should trouble not only the humanitarian community, but the international community writ large:

It does not end the de-facto blockade. The severity of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen demands that all ports – including and especially Hodeidah and Saleef – remain permanently open.

The statement noted that if the Saudis were serious about addressing the humanitarian crisis, the most valuable step they could take would be to lift the blockade, permanently, which they and the international community should do without delay.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Nearly 14,000 Yemenis, mostly women, children and the elderly, have been killed since the onset of Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against the impoverished state. Much of the Arabian Peninsula country’s infrastructure, including hospitals, schools and factories, has been reduced to rubble due to the war. The Saudi-led war has also triggered a worsening humanitarian crisis of unprecedented proportions across Yemen