Yemeni traders are upset by the Houthi prohibition on flour imports
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Salma Hossein
- . March 31, 2023
- . Update: March 31, 2023 11:09 pm
Yemeni businessmen have cautioned that delays brought on by militia prohibitions on food imports from government-controlled regions will ruin urgently needed flour supplies on lorries trapped outside Houthi checkpoints.
Military limitations have caused more than 100 lorries transporting flour to become stuck for days at Houthi checkpoints in Sanaa, Taiz, and Al-Bayda.
According to traders and merchants, the wheat was not imported through the port of Aden but rather came from the mill and silo facilities in Aden. The businessmen stated that they had no issues with the goods being subject to tax or any other Houthi-approved fees.
In a letter to the Houthi minister of commerce and industry, dozens of traders claimed that workers in the Al-Rahida district of Taiz province had prevented them from bringing flour into areas of Taiz and other Yemeni provinces that were under the authority of militias.
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The merchants alleged that staff members claimed to be following a ministry directive. The cargoes will be destroyed by this week’s heavy rain, costing millions of riyals, they added.
Al-Rahida serves as a hub for local traders in the Dimnat Khadir district, one of the five Houthi-controlled areas in Taiz governorate.
According to Abdul Basit Al-Baher, a Yemeni military official stationed in Taiz, as many as 170 flour trucks were stranded outside of Houthi checkpoints on Thursday.
He claimed that the militia were obstructing the delivery of the goods in order to compel merchants to pay higher taxes, even if doing so resulted in higher prices or the loss of critically needed supplies.
The Houthis extort traders and impose additional fees on them under a variety of guises. They don’t care if the price of the good rises or if it vanishes from the market. They merely fret about raising their income, according to Al-Baher.
In opposition to a government decision to raise the customs exchange rate and require businessmen to import products through Hodeidah port, the militia outlawed imports through government-controlled ports at the beginning of the year.
As foreign aid organizations implores donors to support their programs, which feed millions of Yemenis, the Houthi harassment of businesses is anticipated to worsen Yemen’s already dire humanitarian situation.
Separately, the Houthi land mines in the Ad Duraihimi and At Tuhayta regions of the western province of Hodeidah have murdered six Yemeni civilians since the beginning of Ramadan, according to the Saudi-funded Masam demining program.
According to Yemeni Landmine Records, which keeps track of civilian land mine fatalities in the nation, three people died when a motorcycle they were riding hit a mine in Ad Duraihimi, and two more died in an explosion caused by a land mine in Al-Hami, west of Hodeida.
