WASHINGTON – The Trump administration’s rush to declare Houthi rebels a terrorist organization in Yemen leaves humanitarian workers and commercial importers vulnerable to criminal penalties, officials said Monday, risking future deliveries of food, medical supplies and other aid for the impoverished land.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who announced the expulsion of the terrorism late Sunday, said officials planned to “take action” to ensure aid continues.
However, this did not reassure a number of lawmakers, diplomats and aid groups who accused the government of enforcing the policy before President Trump leaves office next week, saying that clear legal protections linked to the terrorist denomination should have been enacted to do so to prevent another obstacle to supporting one of the poorest countries in the world.
The term terrorism “makes it harder to provide lifesaving aid in a country already affected by the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” said New York Democrat Gregory W. Meeks, chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
“People will suffer and die, and these deaths are completely preventable,” said Mr Meeks.
The term terrorism, which Mr Pompeo announced late Sunday and will take effect on January 19, is imposing new economic and travel sanctions on Houthi rebels, who overthrew the Yemeni government six years ago and have been waging war against Saudi Arabia since 2015 to lead.
It largely aims to impede Iran, the main beneficiary of the Houthis, by discouraging weapons, supplies and other support that Tehran has sent to the rebel movement as part of a proxy war in the Middle East.
Mr Pompeo said the action aims to “advance efforts towards a peaceful, sovereign and united Yemen that is both free from Iranian interference and at peace with its neighbors”.
He also noted concerns that the naming would limit aid to desperate Yemenis, but said if the Houthis “did not act like a terrorist organization, we would not name them”.
This did little to reassure the helpers and other commercial importers who were demanding clarification of seemingly conflicting liability standards.
“It is hard to imagine that in the final days of the Trump administration, lightning will hit them and suddenly they will figure out how these labels cannot stop them from tormenting civilians in Yemen,” said Scott Paul, Humanitarian Policy for Oxfam America. “We can’t count on that to happen.”
Congressional assistants expressed similar concerns after being briefed on Monday by State Department officials and the U.S. Agency for International Development.
The Houthis, who call themselves Ansar Allah or the Partisans of God, are de facto the government in an area where the majority of the Yemeni population live, including the capital Sana and the country’s largest port.
Saudi Arabia and a number of Arab allies who have pushed for the expulsion of terrorism have failed to restore the internationally recognized government as the war in Yemen has settled in a swamp and that of the United Nations as the worst humanitarian Crisis of the world called crisis has triggered.
Millions of Yemenis rely on state institutions controlled by the Houthis for basic goods. Ships bringing groceries have to pay port dues in a Houthi-controlled port, and Western charities support teachers and healthcare workers who work for Houthi-controlled administrations, whether they support the group or not.
Mr Pompeo pointed to an attack on December 30th on the civilian airport in the Yemeni city of Aden, in which 27 people were killed, as evidence of the Houthis’ terror capabilities. Nobody took responsibility for this attack, and both Al Qaeda and the Islamic State are active in the region.
Many analysts believe the Houthis pose no direct threat to the United States and have been skeptical that the sanctions will put pressure on the Houthis to negotiate an end to the war. The United States has supported Saudi efforts in the war that killed thousands of civilians in Yemen.
Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a high-ranking member of the Houthi movement, scoffed on Monday at the label “killing and spreading hunger”.
A spokesman for the new administration of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr. did not rule out reversing the designation after Mr. Trump stepped down on January 20.
Even diplomats who say the Houthis are not a terrorist organization and refuse to be named recognize that “they are certainly a hideous group,” said Gerald M. Feierstein, ambassador to Yemen during the Obama administration.
“So how can you remove the FTO designation without pointing out that you sympathize with them or blame them for the disaster in Yemen?” said Herr Feierstein, now at the Middle East Institute in Washington. “It will not be easy.”
Lara Jakes reported from Washington and Ben Hubbard from Beirut, Lebanon. Edward Wong contributed to the coverage.
