YEMEN: Houthis stole food ‘from the mouths’ of hungry Yemenis: UN

The UN’s food agency has accused Houthi rebels of stealing food “from the mouths” of hungry Yemenis, hours after an investigation by the Associated Press (AP) news agency found that both sides in the conflict had stolen aid meant for the country’s most vulnerable. David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), […]

The UN’s food agency has accused Houthi rebels of stealing food “from the mouths” of hungry Yemenis, hours after an investigation by the Associated Press (AP) news agency found that both sides in the conflict had stolen aid meant for the country’s most vulnerable.

David Beasley, the Executive Director of the World Food Programme (WFP), said on Monday that his agency had collected evidence showing the Houthis had diverted shipments of food sent to help alleviate “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”. “At a time when children are dying in Yemen because they haven’t enough food to eat, that is an outrage,” Beasley said. “This criminal behaviour must stop immediately”.

Yemen’s four-year war and ensuing economic collapse have unleashed the world’s most urgent humanitarian crisis with more than 22 million people needing some kind of aid to survive.