Houthi crimes on continuous display: Looting aid organizations in Yemen

Amira Sherif

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.