2 min read

06.10.22

22H30 CAT

Umm Muhammed Umar

Yemen’s government has accused the Houthi’s of being subservient to foreign interests after the group refused to renew an UN-brokered truce that expired last Sunday. Majed Al Fadhail, Yemen’s Deputy Minister of Human Rights, told The National that the group “does not want peace”. Al Fadhail said that the truce included a ceasefire, payment of civil servants, opening of roads, operational flights to and from Sanaa and the flow of oil. He accused the Houthis of being driven by foreign agendas “dictated to them from Iran.” Radio Islam spoke to Nada AlTaher Senior Foreign Reporter at The National and previously a freelancer with CNN International.

AlTaher said that the justification that the Houthis gave for not renewing the truce and not accepting a new UN proposal did not make much sense. She said, “They accused the coalition and the government of placing what they called stringent, restrictive measures on fuel imports coming in through the Ports of Hodeida.” She added, “(The Houthis) pointed out to the issue of the payments of civil servants. We know that there are at least 1.25 million civil servants that have not received salaries in something like six years, although the Houthis have since employed many, many more.” She explained that initially it was established that civil servants would be paid through revenues generated by fuel imports through the Port of Hodeida, but that it’s not known what has become of the money generated through the port. She said, “So, a lot of the accusations and a lot of the claims that the Houthis have made towards the government were not quite justified in their reasoning for rejecting the truce.” AlTaher said that financial pressure needed to be exerted on the Houthis in order for them to comply.

The Houthis have accused the government of Yemen for some time now of looting revenue generated through imports. AlTaher said there was no solid basis for the claim. She said that after the truce began in April, fuel imports began flowing in through the ports. She said, there was a paper trail, as you would expect in an official port, and then the revenues would be deposited into the central bank’s branch, in Hodeida.”  She said that the money from the fuel imports was supposed to have been used by the Houthis to pay civil servants, but it hadn’t been used for that purpose, and it was unknown exactly what happened to it. AlTaher said, “So we’re just assuming that they use it for other reasons. And then the issue began about the payments of civil servants.” The fuel imports were stopped due to the issue of the non-payment of the civil servants. AlTaher said, “And then they began again, after the truce commenced in April.” She added that the Houthis had recently demanded looser restrictions regarding ships coming into the port, as well as less oversight, saying, “obviously you can’t really do that, with a militant group that could smuggle just about anything through the ports, including weapons, which is also known for them to have done, even despite all the restrictions.”

The Yemeni government has also said that foreign interest, meaning Iran, was behind the Houthi rejection of the deal. Meanwhile, on Monday, right after the truce was not renewed, Iran issued a statement, citing its foreign minister, who in a phone call with UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, said that Iran actually supported the renewal of the truce. By then it had expired.