Iranian aid ship offloads Yemen aid in Djibouti while Iranian plane denied permission to land

An Iranian news agency said an Iranian Red Crescent plane carrying 20 tonnes of food for Yemen was denied permission to land in Djibouti the location of a UN food distribution hub.

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The IRNA, official Iranian news agency, quoted the Red Crescent official as saying: “Despite coordination with the United Nations and the World Food Programme, the plane was not granted permission to land in Djibouti." The plane is now in south-eastern Iran awaiting authorization of the foreign affairs ministry of Djibouti to land. Djibouti is the site of a key U.S. military base, the only permanent U.S. base in Africa. Drone missions are launched from the base as well as other flights.

An Iranian cargo ship, the Nejat, carrying 2,500 tonnes of aid to Yemen that had been heading for the port of Hodeida held by the rebel Houthis, changed course and docked in Djibouti after arriving late Friday night. The cargo was being handed over to the World Food Program (WFP) in Djibouti. The port authority chief, Abur Hadi, said: “The ship will be completely unloaded and reloaded onto other vessels, everything is transparent." WFP spokesperson, Abber Etefa, said Saturday: "The ship carries 2,500 tonnes of humanitarian aid and that includes mainly rice and wheat flour, as well as medicine, water, tents and blankets."

The ship diverted from its route to Hodeida after warnings from both the U.S. and the Saudi-led coalition who feared that the ship might be delivering arms to the Houthi rebels.

The U.N. could have monitored the unloading at Hodeida and assured a quicker delivery of the aid instead of having to divert to Djibouti. However, it is clear that the U.S. and Saudis simply do not want any deliveries to be made by Iran of any kind to Houthi-controlled areas. When the ship arrived in Djibouti, it was not just inspected but unloaded and the aid given over to the WFP. There is no guarantee that the aid will even go to Hodeida now.

General Ali Ahmadi, Secretary of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) said:“We are coordinating with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to deliver Iran’s humanitarian aid to the oppressed Yemeni people in Hudaydah port after making sure that the route is safe. The Nejat ship has been dispatched to Djibouti in order to assess the situation. We are sending humanitarian supplies to Yemen needed by its people and we do not want to face any problems in this regard,”There are a number of international journalists, doctors, and foreign anti-war activists aboard the ship.

I expect that the Nejat will not be allowed to journey to Hodeida at all. The aid has already been offloaded. If the UN, the US, and Saudi coalition were going to allow the Nejat to dock in Hodeida, they would have simply inspected the cargo in Djibouti and sent it on its way with perhaps UN monitors to ensure it did not pick up weapons on the way. The process is transparent. The powers that count, the US and Saudis, ensured that the ship not only did not sail directly to Hodeida but will never go there and will not deliver the aid. The aid could very well end up in Aden to be given to areas controlled by Hadi loyalists. As Etefa from the WFP put it:“The cargo of the ship will be handed over to WFP in Djibouti and will be transferred to WFP-chartered vessels for shipment to the Yemeni ports of Hudaydah and/or (the southern port city of) Aden, It will be delivered to humanitarian partners on the ground for distribution."Saudi Arabia has already stopped an Iranian cargo plane from delivering aid from landing in Sanaa by bombing the runway, preventing any aid planes from landing no matter where they were from. Clearly the aim is not just to prevent arms from being provided by Iran but humanitarian aid to rebel-held areas as well. Some aid will still get in because the UN will need to show some concern for the humanitarian needs of those in rebel areas.

Saudi bombing campaign helps to produce a humanitarian disaster in Yemen

After almost a month of bombing missions led by Saudi Arabia, which, mimicking US euphemisms, was called "Operation Decisive Storm," the Saudis announced they would end the bombing several weeks ago.

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A new mission was announced "Operation Renewal of Hope" which was to focus on the political process. Operation Decisive Storm was to end at midnight on Tuesday April 21: Brigadier-General Ahmed al-Asiri, the coalition's spokesperson, said on Tuesday that the coalition had achieved its military goals in Yemen and a new operation, called "Renewal of Hope", would aim to protect civilians and combat "terrorism".

The new operation started at midnight on Tuesday local time (22:00 GMT).Within a couple of hours bombing of Yemen began anew. The bombing has continued ever since, no doubt with the aim of protecting civilians and focusing on the political process.

The manner in which these raids protect civilians is illustrated by this report from a night attack Friday:Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition struck a residential district of the Yemeni capital Sanaa overnight, killing eight to 10 civilians, residents said on Friday.Saba, the state news agency, of the Houthi rebels put the number killed in the Sawan district of Sanaa at 20 with more than 50 wounded. While many residents oppose the Houthi occupation, the Saudi bombings are unlikely to make many friends.

As a way of further showing their concern for protecting civilians the Saudis bombed the runway at the Sanaa airport several days ago to prevent an Iranian cargo plane from landing after it refused to obey orders from the coalition not to land. The Saudi-led coalition has established its own no-fly zone. The damage to the runway has prevented aid planes from landing. The Iranians claim that the plane was carrying aid. Even if it had weapons surely the plane could have been allowed to land and an attack made wherever the weapons were taken or there could have been an attack on those transporting them. The Saudi action made the humanitarian disaster even worse.

The UN World Food Programme(WFP) urged all those involved in the conflict to allow aid agencies and the commercial sector to bring fuel and food into the country. Violence has blocked shipments of food, fuel, and medical supplies. All airports are closed to civilian traffic and some such as the one at Sanaa have come under direct attack. Naval shipments are being delayed as well. Secretary General Bank K-moon called for an immediate ceasefire to allow for aid to be delivered. More than 1,200 have been killed so far in the conflict with 300,000 more fleeing their homes to avoid the violence.

Russia has pushed for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the UN Security Council but it was not supported in the Council even though all countries agree the bombings and clashes have created a humanitarian disaster and many aid groups claim they will have to leave Yemen in a few days because they have no supplies to run their operations. The US apparently will only support a resolution that "insists the Saudis are totally blameless for the humanitarian crisis, and that it is the Yemeni Shiite Houthis who are at fault." The point should be to stop the fighting not apportion blame. This is not just a Sunni Shiite conflict either, the Shia rebels could never have gone as far as they have without the support of former president Saleh, to whom many in the Yemeni armed forces are loyal. Given recent developments that include more bombings in Yemen I would suggest that the two operations "Decisive Storm" and "Renewal of Hope" be combined into "Operation Decisive Hopelessness."

Funding shortfall forces WFP to suspend vouchers for 1.7 million displaced Syrians

More than 1.7 million Syrians have taken refuge in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq and even Egypt. The UN World Food Programme(WFP) has helped feed these refugees through a system of vouchers that can be used at local stores.

The WFP is facing a funding crisis that has forced the organization to suspend vouchers for hundreds of thousands of refugees already. The program has been in place since the Syrian conflict began back in March 2011. The WFP also provides food for internally displaced Syrians within Syria itself but outside Syria it has used the voucher programme. The program has injected about $800 million into the economies of host countries. The WFP has been unable to provide the $64 million needed to support Syrian refugees in December. In contrast, the Pentagon estimates the cost of military operations against the IS at between $210 and $300 million per month. Yet the international community as a whole is unable to provide less than a third of that to feed those displaced by military action in Syria. Lack of funding has also led WFP to cut rations provided to those internally displaced within Syria, numbering 4.25 million people.
 Ertharin Cousin, executive director of WFP, appealed to donors to honor their commitments and warned of the negative effects of suspension of the program on refugees: “[It] will endanger the health and safety of these refugees and will potentially cause further tensions, instability and insecurity in the neighbouring host countries. The suspension of WFP food assistance will be disastrous for many already suffering families.” Winter is coming on soon and many refugees in Lebanon and Jordan are living in tents, in poor hygienic conditions with many children lacking even shoes and warm clothes.
 Muhannad Hadi, regional emergency coordinator for the Syria crisis echoed Cousin's concerns: “We are very concerned about the negative impact these cuts will have on the refugees as well as the countries which host them.These countries have shouldered a heavy burden throughout this crisis.” The WFP had warned three months ago that it was facing a whopping 89 percent funding shortfall. The WFP said in November that it needed $412.6 million over the next three months for almost 3 million Syrian refugees.
 The Guardian reports that as well as killing more the 200,000 there are 6.5 million Syrians displaced within the country and another more than 3 million outside Syria. The WFP has also cut rations of refugees in camps in Kenya as well for lack of funds. Some critics say that the WFP is simply using the suspension as a way to obtain more funding. In a telephone conversation Emilia Casella, a spokesperson for the WFP denied this and said: "We did foreshadow it. We did warn about it. We’ve exhausted all the options that we had. We weren’t crying wolf.”
 While the UN as a whole may be weak and impotent, programmes such as those run by the WFP are crucial in helping to alleviate the suffering of those who face horrible conditions through no fault of their own. The WFP deserves more support. If money can be found to finance military actions surely money can be found to mitigate the results of those actions on innocent refugees.