US exempts UN, aid groups from effort to cut off Yemen's Houthis
The United States on Tuesday (Jan 19) exempted aid groups, the United Nations, the Red Cross and the export of agricultural commodities, medicine, and medical devices from its designation of Yemen's Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization.
The carve-outs are not enough to allay UN fears that Washington's move would push Yemen into a large-scale famine. The United Nations describes Yemen as the world's biggest humanitarian crisis, with 80 per cent of its people in need.
"Our concern from the beginning ... is the impact on the commercial sector and that the vast majority of food and other basic supplies that come into Yemen comes in through the commercial sector," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.
UN officials and aid groups said the designation will scare off commercial trade in Yemen, which relies almost solely on imports, creating a gap the humanitarian operation cannot fill regardless of US humanitarian exemptions.
The United States has exempted the export to Yemen of agricultural commodities. Its description of that includes food for people, including raw, processed, and packaged foods, live animals, vitamins and minerals, and bottled drinking water.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move against the Iran-aligned Houthis last week and it took effect on Tuesday, one day before Democratic President-elect Joe Biden succeeds Republican President Donald Trump.
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