Yemen relief groups concerned UN experts report may hurt aid work

Charities say a negative UN Panel of Experts’ report will disrupt humanitarian aid flow in Yemen as desperation deepens.

Local grassroots charities in Yemen are disconcerted by revelations in the 2021 United Nations Security Council Panel of Experts report that threaten humanitarian workflow in the war-ravaged nation. The Trump administration’s decision a month before the report was released to impose the Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation on the Iran-aligned Houthis did not help either. But this was swiftly reversed when US President Joe Biden assumed power. Key accusations in the UN report include: Yemeni multinational Hayel Saeed Anam (HSA) Group made a profit of about $194m between mid-2018 and August 2020 from the letter of credit mechanism alone (an instrument used in international trade guaranteeing security to both buyers and sellers); the Central Bank of Yemen (CBY) misused Saudi deposits worth nearly $2bn and engaged in money laundering and foreign currency rate manipulation.