Jakarta: Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock has urged the United States (US) to reverse its decision to designate Yemen’s Ansar Allah, more commonly known as the Houthi movement, a terrorist group.
On Sunday, the US announced it will designate the group as a specially designated terrorist entity and foreign terrorist organization (FTO) under US domestic law.
For months, aid agencies have unanimously opposed this designation. They believe it will accelerate Yemen’s slide into a large-scale famine. The designation is set to take force on January 19.
"What would prevent it? A reversal of the decision," said the UN official in a statement on Thursday.
According to him, Yemen imports 90 per cent of its food. Nearly all that food is brought in through commercial channels. Aid agencies cannot replace the commercial import system.
"I also told the Council last month that we had been talking to the commercial traders and asking them what impact the mooted US designation, as it was then, would have on them. They told us – and I told you – that they were not sure they would be able to continue importing food into Yemen in those circumstances. They thought the suppliers, bankers, shippers and insurers they do business with could decline to do business with them if the designation proceeded," he explained.
The data show that 16 million people will go hungry this year. Already, about 50,000 people are
essentially starving to death in what is essentially a small famine. Another 5 million are likely to face the same situation in the near future.
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