Yemen requests pressure on the Houthis to lift restrictions on the arrival of goods

Yemen called on the international community to oblige the Houthi putschists to lift the restrictions they imposed on the arrival of basic commodities between the liberated governorates and those under their control, after they seized trucks transporting goods in the town of Al-Rahda.

The Yemeni calls were made by the Minister of Information, Muammar Al-Eryani, who called on the United Nations and the UN and US envoys to exert real pressure on the Houthi putschists to lift all restrictions on the flow of goods and the movement of goods between the provinces, and to condemn these practices that portend catastrophic economic repercussions on the private sector, and exacerbate human suffering. in the country.

Al-Eryani stated that the Houthi coupists are holding hundreds of trucks coming from the port of Aden loaded with flour, at the Al-Rahda port, and have prevented them from crossing to the areas under their control, in an attempt to limit imports through the port of Hodeidah, which has caused heavy losses to merchants, and an increase in the prices of this basic commodity in the local markets in areas of their control.

The Yemeni minister accused the Houthi coupists of seeking to achieve material gains through these measures, imposing more restrictions on merchants, monopolizing the import of basic commodities through import companies and affiliated merchants, continuing the policy of starvation and impoverishment that it pursues against citizens in the areas under its control, and confirming its responsibility for The deterioration of the humanitarian situation.

Collection as enticement and intimidation

Commercial sources in the capital, Sana’a, report that the Houthi militia is seeking to force the Hayel Saeed Commercial Group of Companies, which is the largest Yemeni commercial group; To stop the grain milling operations in the liberated governorates, and to transfer the milling operations to mills in the city of Hodeidah under the control of the militias.

According to the sources, who spoke to Asharq Al-Awsat; The militias determined the prices of flour through the offices of the commercial sector, which they control, and informed them of the commercial companies, led by the Hayel Saeed Group. However, these companies responded that what the militias demand is unfair and causes them great losses, especially with the cost of transportation by sea to the port of Hodeidah. And that the specified prices will accrue them with losses.

However, the militias insisted on their position, and doubled the levies imposed on commercial companies that transport their goods from the port of Aden by land, and the companies and merchants who import through the port of Hodeidah promised to reduce the levies imposed on them.

For two weeks, the Houthi militia has continued to detain more than 300 wheat trucks coming from the port of the interim capital in the town of Al-Rahda (224 km south of the capital, Sana’a), where they have created an illegal customs port to obtain levies from merchants and companies on goods and commodities that cross the town coming from the regions and governorates. liberated.

Truck drivers say that the Houthi militia refuses to disclose to them the reason for detaining them and preventing them from crossing except by announcing that these are orders and procedures from the Ministry of Commerce in the unrecognized coup government, and that militia members in the newly created customs port claim to them that merchants with goods know what procedures are supposed to be. to follow them to deliver their goods.

Truck drivers expressed their concern about damage to wheat and flour due to the high temperatures and heavy rains that the country has been witnessing for weeks, and they were surprised by these measures, which come despite paying and paying the full fees imposed by the militias de facto.

Drivers warned that these measures will lead to a shortage of flour and wheat in areas under the control of the militias, and thus an increase in its prices, given the detention of these large quantities at the Al-Rahda port, the possibility of their being damaged and the high transportation costs due to the increase in the personal expenses of the drivers with their stay at the port for a long time.

domination of the economy

These measures were condemned locally, including among the Houthi militias themselves, revealing the escalating disputes between the militias’ wings and their leaders, and their competition for influence.

A member of the so-called Supreme Political Council of the militias, Sultan al-Sami’i, criticized the decision to detain the flour trucks at the al-Rahda port, questioning the insistence on that and seeking to starve the people, describing the decision as “Qaraqosh’s rule”, in an expression of the militias’ exacerbation of their arbitrariness.

Al-Samei indicated that the militias aim to oblige merchants to transport flour from Aden by sea and enter it from the port of Hodeidah, and reactions came in support of his position, especially from social and political figures supporting the militias from Taiz Governorate, who expressed their anger at the abuses suffered by the Hayel Saeed group of companies. Al-Tijaria, which she said had regional motives.

These Houthi practices against trucks of wheat and basic materials come within the wave of targeting the private commercial sector, and crackdown on companies, merchants and major commercial groups.

The Houthi militia took coup measures against the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, by storming the headquarters of the federation and appointing followers instead of its leadership in measures that the Yemeni government said confirmed the militia’s progress in its plan to destroy the private sector and eliminate commercial houses in the areas under its control, in favor of loyal companies and investors. she has.

According to the statements of the Al-Iryani Minister of Information; The Houthi militia aims to completely control the commercial sector, control the national economy without any regard for the difficult economic and humanitarian conditions, and persist in its arbitrary measures towards the private sector and commercial companies without legal justification or court rulings.

Al-Eryani, according to Saba, called on the international community, the United Nations and its special envoy not to stand by and watch what he described as the open war launched by the Houthi militia against commercial houses and capital that had withstood and continued its commercial activity despite the difficult circumstances, and to take practical steps to stop the systematic destruction that it is practicing rightly. The private sector, which threatens the collapse of economic conditions and exacerbates human suffering.

The Houthi coup measures against the Federation of Yemeni Chambers of Commerce and Industry came after a statement issued by the General Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry about militia actions against the private sector, the closure of companies and commercial establishments in the capital, Sana’a, and areas under the militia’s control, warning of an economic catastrophe, stopping the import of goods, and damaging the stock of basic goods and materials. Exodus and migration of national capital in search of commercial and economic security.