Yemen monitor/ Sana’a / private:
On such days, Yemenis are preparing for the holy month of Ramadan, not only residents, but also merchants and aid workers.ships are filled with imported foodstuffs in Yemeni ports .
But this has not yet happened due to the changes in the Red Sea following the Houthi attacks on shipping, and the US-British counter-attacks, which make the country’s drift towards a food crisis inevitable, according to aid organizations, traders and economists.
Al-Hodeidah the fourth largest city in Yemen in terms of population, and the vital port of the country which handle 80% of the aid entering Yemen in the month before Ramadan, now due to the chaos of the Red Sea, aid and goods seem to be dwindling as organizations stop sending aid or reduce it. A Yemeni importer told Yemen monitor, ” these are the worst years, with ships reluctant to ship goods to Yemen and rising the shipping costs .
This means Yemenis fasting all day and starving all night. It is an approach that seems to be prevalent during Ramadan this year.
With the re-militarization of Hodeidah, Yemen has lost one of its most important food lifelines, and the current round of conflict means that the Yemeni people are more likely to suffer from food insecurity than ever before.
According to the World Food Program, more than half of Yemen’s population suffers the crisis of food insecurity, as 2.2 million child and 1.3 million pregnant and lactating mothers ssuffering malnutrition.
With humanitarian aid dwindling, prices rising and security deteriorating, more people are at risk of starvation and malnutrition than ever before. This Not only putting pressure on the already struggling food market in Yemen, but also affects the medical services that are struggling to cope with cases of malnutrition.
Last week, aid organizations working in Yemen warned of rising shipping costs and delivery delays due to the Red Sea attacks by the Houthi group, which threaten to exacerbate one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.
clamp down on the relief
An aid official in Sana’a told “Yemen monitor” that his organization has received notifications from organizations supporting relief projects in Europe to stop support until further notice”
He also pointed out that the matter is related to the attacks in the Red Sea, where the foreign ministries of European countries have been informed to stop funding humanitarian projects in Houthi-controlled areas.
An official in another organization told”Yemen monitor” that organizations in Europe are inquiring about the relationship of the organization and its employees with the Houthis and whether the Houthis receive any funding. He added: Although our organization is far from the Houthis, the liaison officials of those organizations informed us that the current project may be the last project until their country’s policy changes.
In January, the Houthis gave foreign UN staff 30 days to leave the territory under their control. The persecution campaigns of the “Supreme Relief Council (SCCMA)” have increased for organizations in the areas of the group’s control, limiting their work and restricting workers in the relief sector.
The two relief officials said that they were accused of treason and selling the country’s secrets to foreigners! One of them said:these accusations were at intervals in the past, but now these accusations are being made to us almost daily.
Supply crises before Ramadan
From an economic point of view, the situation looks even worse, as the escalating chaos in the Red Sea has led to higher shipping costs and higher insurance premiums.
The Houthis said that they are only targeting ships linked to the Israeli occupation, which is waging a brutal aggression on Gaza Strip.
Houthi attacks and the increase of the US and Western presence in the Red Sea to launch attacks on the armed group since January have contributed to the diversion of many of its ships routes away from the southern of the Red Sea. Economists say that despite the Houthis ‘ talk of targeting ships linked to Israel, shipping costs to Yemen have risen, which means higher prices.
The importer in Houthi areas said that the group’s levies, high shipping, and poor access to hard currency have led to great difficulties for traders and importers, including government insurance to reduce shipping costs.
The internationally recognized Yemeni government failed to secure an amount of 50 million dollars as an insurance deposit at the insurance club in London, which it had previously pledged to reduce the cost of shipping ships to ports in the liberated provinces in the East and south of the country, which increased during the war to 16 times.
Wafiq Saleh, a researcher and economic journalist, told Yemen Monitor: “There is no doubt that the escalation of the conflict in the Red Sea resulted the high cost of sea freight and high insurance premiums, in addition to the reluctance of many shipping companies to pass through the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandab, effected the supply chains to Yemeni ports which led to major problems in the mechanism of the flow of goods to the local market.
Yemeni traders usually precede the holy month of Ramadan by increasing the percentage of imported goods and foodstuffs –Saleh says – so “the crises taking place now in the supply chains to Yemeni ports, put problems and difficulties in front of the flow of goods”.
The collapse of currency and employee salaries Wafiq Saleh pointed out that this is due to “the high cost of maritime transport and reluctance of shipping giants to transit through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, which threatens to cause supply crises in the local market in addition to chaos in the prices of goods and commodities.
The internationally recognized government and the private sector should seek solutions from now on to these potential crises, and”ensure that there are no shortages of food and basic goods during Ramadan in the local market, in a way that ensures price stability,”he said.
The Economist pointed out that”what really raises concerns is that these crises in the supply chains come simultaneously with the collapse of the value of the national currency against foreign currencies, which is another problem facing traders and importers, as the constant turmoil in the exchange rate reduces the volume of imports and production and leads to stagnation of economic activity in general.
If government employees in the areas under the control of the internationally recognized government receive salaries, which have become less than 70 USD per month. The situation in the Houthi areas looks even worse as the most of government employees in the Houthi-controlled areas have not received their salaries for years. After October 07, the demand of employees for any financial benefits became part of the group’s propaganda that they belonged to the American aggression.
What kind of Ramadans awaits Yemenis this year?!
