Yemen Monitor/Sana’a/Exclusive:
Sources said on Tuesday that the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has begun a gradual distribution of food aid in areas under Houthi control amid an ongoing campaign of arrests targeting the organization’s staff.
According to sources who spoke to “Yemen Monitor” on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media, the program has increased the number of beneficiaries since May from 663,000 to one million people through food distributions consisting of a single basket sufficient for families for 30 days.
The program received the list of beneficiaries and the distribution areas from the Houthi group, which includes 23 districts, according to an agreement between the program and the Houthi authority in Sana’a.
The WFP had begun in May to resume aid gradually after a six-month halt in eight districts in the western provinces of Hajjah and Hodeidah. Weeks later, the Houthis launched a campaign of arrests targeting employees of 29 international and local organizations and a UN agency.
In July, diplomatic sources said that Biden administration had approved the resumption of the delivery of tens of thousands of tons of wheat to Yemeni civilians in Houthi-controlled areas. This was despite the Houthis holding UN aid workers hostage and attacking the US and other international commercial ships in the Red Sea.
The WFP had announced at the end of last year, when aid distribution was halted, that the reason was disagreements with the group over beneficiary lists, amid growing accusations that the Houthis were distributing aid to their fighters.
