humanitarian aid in minefield

The poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula but rich with 30 million inhabitants, the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is considered by the UN to be the worst in the world. After eight years of a deadly war – pitting Houthi rebels, backed by Iran, against pro-government forces aided by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia – 70% of Yemenis depend on humanitarian aid, according to the ‘UN.

“The Houthi mines have hampered all forms of humanitarian aid”

Urgent aid, since 16.9 million of its inhabitants suffer from acute hunger (according to the NGO Integrated food security, 2023) and more than 17 million people do not have access to drinking water or to adequate sanitation systems according to an Oxfam report. But the massive use of anti-personnel mines (Yemen is a signatory to the 1997 Ottawa Convention which prohibits them) left by the Houthi rebels very often prevents humanitarian action from reaching the populations.

And this, despite the demining launched in 2018 by the Masam project, funded by the Saudi government through the King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Center and under direct contract with the Yemeni government. Its 32 teams of deminers have already destroyed more than 380,000 explosive devices. An insufficient result according to Ousama Algosaibi, general manager of the Masam project: “The Houthi mines have hindered all forms of humanitarian aid in Yemen. They have affected entire villages, agricultural land, schools, water wells,” he regrets. Its objective is clear, “to clean up the most densely populated areas” to allow NGOs to move freely and bring the population back there.

Diverted humanitarian aid

But the Masam Project does not intervene in areas occupied by the Houthis “where aid is probably more difficult to bring to the local population”. Areas that are however just as needy. In the rebel-held governorate of Sanaa, occupied since 2014, more than half of the population is in a food crisis. 1.7 million Yemenis are also affected by this crisis in the governorate of Al Hudaydah on the west coast where the port of Al-Hodeïda is located, one of the main territories exposed to mines.

Humanitarian aid is channeled into the country through these two Houthi-controlled governorates. “I’m sure most of this aid doesn’t reach people in need,” said Ousama Algosaibi.

Suspicions that echo the fears expressed in 2020 by the UN World Food Program (WFP), many NGOs and even the United States. The Houthis were then accused of hindering humanitarian action, of diverting aid, even going so far as to tax it by 2%. This triggered threats from the international community to withdraw aid.

In Yemen, 15.4 million people are affected by insufficient food consumption. 16.9 million suffer from acute hunger. / World Food Program

According to the Franco-Yemenite Sanad Anis, the humanitarian interventions of international organizations are also tainted by the inaction of the legal Yemeni government. “There is no clear strategy. The ministers are not present on the ground and they do not know the situation and the needs of the citizens. Administrative or financial corruption and extortion from international organizations don’t help matters,” he said.

Aden, an abandoned city in Yemen

Sanad Anis knows the terrain well. He worked in Yemen for fifteen years for Triangle Génération Humanitaire. The NGO, back in Aden in the south of the country since 2021, is trying to alleviate water shortages in the city. In collaboration with the Water Corporation, it intervenes in the rehabilitation of wells and networks and provides drinking water to deprived areas.

Despite the return to its walls of the Yemeni government supported by Riyadh, the situation in Aden is considered one of the most difficult because of the many displaced people from territories controlled by the rebels. “Most organizations focus on helping other governorates, which creates conflicts between the citizens of Aden and these displaced populations,” regrets Sanad Anis.

And although 60% of Yemeni land has now been liberated, the situation remains catastrophic, with 10 million inhabitants still close to starvation.

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