The Minister of Media stated that silence over militia actions has allowed them to continue looting salaries and impoverishing citizens.

Yemen’s Minister of Information, Culture, and Tourism, Muammar Al-Eryani, has urged citizens in Houthi-controlled areas to resist the ongoing organized theft of public revenues and national resources. He emphasized that these funds primarily benefit Houthi leaders and finance their so-called “war efforts.”

Houthi Control and Economic Impact

In a recent press statement, Al-Eryani highlighted that since 2015, the Houthi militia has halted salary payments for state employees in areas under their control. This decision comes despite their systematic looting of the national treasury, foreign reserves, and state revenues from various sectors, including oil, gas, taxes, customs, and even illegal levies imposed on the private sector. Consequently, millions of families now face hunger and poverty.

Financial Misappropriation

Al-Eryani noted that following their takeover in 2014, the Houthis seized $5.6 billion from the Central Bank’s reserves and 1.7 trillion Yemeni riyals from the public treasury. This includes 400 billion riyals taken from the bank branch in Al-Hudaydah. Alarmingly, in just the past two years (2022-2023), the Houthis have appropriated 4.62 trillion riyals from public revenues—three times the state’s total revenue in 2014, which allocated only 927 billion riyals for regular salary payments.

Breach of Agreements

Despite the Yemeni government’s commitment to pay salaries as per the Stockholm Agreement of 2018, which involved channeling oil revenue from Al-Hudaydah port into a special account, the Houthis have undermined this agreement. They have reportedly looted over $6 billion from port revenues since the UN-brokered truce began in 2022, selling Iranian oil and gas at exorbitant prices.

Humanitarian Initiatives Thwarted

Al-Eryani criticized the Houthis for sabotaging the humanitarian initiative launched by the government in 2019, which aimed to pay salaries to 120,000 civil servants and retirees in Houthi-controlled regions. The militia imposed restrictions on the circulation of new currency, further exacerbating the situation.

Urgent Call for Rights and Accountability

Al-Eryani questioned why fundamental rights, such as salary payments, remain victims of the Houthi militia’s oppressive policies. He asserted that silence over the militia’s actions has enabled their continued plundering and impoverishment of the Yemeni people.

He stated, “It is time to demand our legitimate rights, especially salaries, and to pressure the Houthis to stop stealing revenues and ensure regular salary disbursements.”

International Community’s Role

The minister called on the international community and the United Nations to exert real pressure on the Houthis to end their repressive and impoverishing policies. He urged for accountability for their crimes against the Yemeni people and immediate classification of the militia as a “global terrorist organization.” He also called for decisive actions to cut off their funding sources and hold their leaders accountable.

This article underscores the urgent need for action against the Houthi militia’s financial misconduct and the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Yemen.

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