Yemen gov't accuses Houthis of seizing aid shipments

By Mubarak Mohamed

SANAA

The Yemeni government on Tuesday accused the Houthi rebel group of holding 28 truckloads of humanitarian aid in the country’s central Ibb province.=

“We condemn the group’s seizure of 28 aid-laden trucks near Ibb’s eastern entrance,” Local Administration Minister Abdulraqib Fath was quoted as saying by Yemen’s SABA news agency.

According to Fath, who also serves as chairman of the government’s Higher Committee for Humanitarian Relief, the 28 trucks had been carrying aid supplies to Yemen’s war-weary Al-Hudaydah, Hajjah, Mahweet, Rima, Saada and Taiz provinces.

Fath called on Lisa Grande, the UN's aid coordinator for Yemen, to urgently intervene with a view to securing the release of the confiscated aid shipments.

Yemen has remained beset by violence and chaos since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led military coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi territorial gains.

Since then, tens of thousands of Yemenis, including numerous civilians, are believed to have been killed in the conflict, while another 14 million are now at risk of starvation, according to UN figures.