Houthis try to compensate for human losses by recruiting Ethiopians and Africans

Aya Ezz

The Houthi militia has incurred heavy human losses in recent months during the battle of Marib that began nine months ago. As a result, the militia began to intensify its recruitment of Africans in order to engage them in the ongoing battles, according to the Yemeni News Agency (SABA).

SABA indicated that the Houthis relied entirely on the African communities in the capital, Sanaa, in return for an appropriate financial return for them, while others are being forced into the ranks of the fighters. During the past few days, the Houthi security forces raided dozens of homes of the Ethiopian community in Sanaa and arrested a number of them on false charges, and they are now in unknown locations.

Ethiopian recruitment

There are about two million African migrants in Yemen, the majority of whom are Ethiopians and Somalis, and there are 171,000 refugees among them in Sanaa, according to estimates by United Nations bodies.

Governmental statistics in Yemen revealed that the Al-Thawra General Hospital, Al-Jumhouri and Military hospitals in Sanaa received from the beginning of this year until the end of April more than 22 bodies of African recruits, including children, while last year it received more than 98 bodies of African recruits of different ages who died while fighting in the ranks of the militia on different fronts, such as Hodeidah, Taiz, Al-Bayda, Nihm and Hajjah.

In the same context, the Yemeni army confirmed that it had arrested Ethiopian refugees with military identities, and investigations revealed that militia-affiliated bodies had brought in large numbers of trained forces and entered Yemeni territory under the pretext of their search for livelihood and work.

The National Army said that it had previously killed and arrested large numbers of Africans who were fighting in the ranks of the militias on a number of battle fronts. This was confirmed by Brigadier General Abdo Majali, the official spokesman for the Yemeni armed forces, that the Houthi militia had introduced dozens of foreign fighters from the African continent to the city of Hodeidah from the northern side of the city.

Death is the fate of those who refuse

The Yemeni Al-Asimah Online website said that if the Ethiopians in Yemen refuse conscription offers, they are thrown into unknown places of detention, where they are tortured to death, according to eyewitnesses that the website used in its report, although they refused to be named for fear of being killed.

Some of them are forced to pay sums of money in exchange for their refusal to enlist in the ranks of the militia, while others are forcibly recruited.

In all cases, African recruits are sent to psychological and military training centers, through which they are trained and made false financial promises. Eventually, many recruits do not return alive to their families.

Houthi confession

The Houthi militia has admitted to recruiting Africans into its ranks through the funeral processions it organizes, but the exact number of recruits enrolled in its ranks is not known.

The Houthi militia also frequently publishes pictures of people with African names who died in the battles in Yemen, with the slogan of the terrorist movement added to it and the nicknames it calls its members.

The Yemeni army also constantly announces the killing of Africans fighting within the ranks of the Houthi militia, as well as the capture of a number of others with Somali and Ethiopian nationalities.