By Faisal Abu Bakr | 2024-02-26

ADEN -- Sanaa residents who are reliant on food aid expressed concern when they learned recently that food baskets were no longer available for them, blaming the Iran-backed Houthis for making a bad situation worse.

In December, the World Food Program (WFP) announced it was pausing general food distributions in areas of Yemen under the control of the Houthis.

The decision was driven by limited funding and the absence of an agreement with the de facto authorities on a smaller program that matches available resources to the neediest families, the WFP said on December 5.

The Houthis' ongoing attacks in the Red Sea are causing further food insecurity, sources in Yemen told Pishtaz affiliate outlet Al-Fassel.

Mother of five Eman al-Absi said she visited the office for the displaced in Sanaa to ask when food baskets would be distributed only to learn that "the disbursement has been suspended until further notice."

"Food baskets were distributed every two to three months, and I received the last food basket in October," she said.

Public sector employee Ali Zaid told Al-Fassel he has been struggling as government salaries are not being paid in areas controlled by the Houthis, leaving him without an income to support his family of six.

He said the food baskets, provided by the WFP, were helping him meet the basic needs of his family, and now he expects the worst.

Zaid linked the suspension of food baskets to the Red Sea attacks, which he said "will only harm the poor and the recipients of humanitarian aid."

"We do not know when the baskets will resume," he said.

Deteriorating situation

"As the security situation in the Red Sea continues to deteriorate, the World Food Program faces increased shipping costs in addition to potential delays in delivery," the WFP said in a February 8 report.

"The food security situation is expected to deteriorate in the coming months," it said, warning of a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

The Iran-backed Houthis' attacks on merchant vessels in the Red Sea have caused the cost of insurance to rise for shipping companies, forcing many to avoid this vital route.

The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a relief organization that operates in Yemen, said it was "already witnessing delays in shipments of life-saving goods, including medicine, due to the military escalation."

The IRC is continuing to provide its services at full capacity using its stockpiles of aid, IRC policy, advocacy and communications coordinator in Yemen Anya Cowley told AFP.

The organization is beginning to see "a rise in inflation and an increase in the prices of basic commodities in local markets, such as food and fuel," she said.

In late January, 26 relief organizations operating in Yemen issued a joint statement warning that they are already beginning to feel the impact of the escalation in the Red Sea.

"The disruption to trade is pushing up prices and delaying shipments of life-saving goods," said the statement issued by CARE, the Norwegian Refugee Council and Save the Children, among others.

Food and water insecurity

To achieve water and food security, Yemen's government and its regional and international partners must strengthen cooperation in the area of sustainable development, said Minister of Water and Environment Tawfiq Al-Sharjabi.

About 17.6 million Yemenis are facing the threat of water and food insecurity as a result of the protracted conflict, climate change, resource depletion and limited access to technology, he said.

The Yemeni government has developed a number of strategies related to water and food security, he said during a World Bank water scarcity workshop held in Dubai on February 11.

But these strategies need funds to achieve their goals and to reach the more than 18 million citizens in need of humanitarian assistance and protection in 2024.

At the beginning of February, the United Nations (UN) and its partners launched a $2.7 billion humanitarian appeal for Yemen.

The appeal "came as part of the UN's role in helping the Yemeni people," said an employee of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) who asked to remain anonymous.

The Yemeni people have been suffering from the scourge of war for nine years, the OCHA source told Al-Fassel, adding that the Red Sea attacks would add "new obstacles to the delivery of aid to those who deserve it."

Compounding Yemen's suffering

"The Houthis deliberately starved and impoverished the Yemenis," journalist and writer Mohammed Anaam told Al-Fassel.

The Iran-backed group "plundered their money, stole their salaries, plundered the state's resources and diverted them to the coffers of their leaders and financed the war against Yemenis and neighboring countries," he said.

With its actions, the group also "compounded the people's suffering with its attacks on ships in the Red Sea," he said.

These attacks are an "escalation against the international community, not just Yemen," Abaad Center for Strategic Studies director Abdul Salam Mohammed told Al-Fassel.

"This escalation in defiance of the international community will reflect negatively on the peace process in Yemen and on the arrival of relief and humanitarian aid provided by the international community to Yemenis," he said.

"Yemen is the most affected by the Houthi attacks, which have caused an increase in the cost of shipping for imports, the cost of insurance, and prices of goods," he said.

The negative consequences of the attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea "are significant on the fragile Yemeni economy," said political analyst Mahmoud al-Taher.

The country has been suffering from the effects of the war -- started by the Houthis and enabled by Iran -- for nine years, he said.

He predicted that prices will rise as a result of the lack of supply and lack of imports into Yemen, in addition to the delay in the arrival of fuel.

This will cause an increase in the prices of all local goods, "because fuel drives the production of these goods, be they agricultural or industrial," he said.