June 29, 2020
Facts on Status of Implementation of Government of Yemen’s Initiative to Supply Oil Derivatives and to Facilitate Payment of Salaries in Areas under Houthi Control
- The Yemeni government announced a temporary initiative to implement government decisions No. 75 of 2018 and 49 of 2019 and to facilitate the flow of oil derivatives to Houthi-controlled areas to alleviate the humanitarian situation. The initiative stipulated that the returns from tax and customs on imported oil derivatives through the port of Hodeidah be deposited in a special account in the branch of the Central Bank in Hodeidah and that the salaries of the civil sector in the Houthi-controlled areas be paid from those sums according to a mechanism agreed upon by the government and the Houthi putschists.
- The Yemeni government team held three meetings in 2019 with representatives of the United Nations Special Envoy’s office on October 27, November 1, and December 2, and presented proposals on the mechanism and necessary data related to the salary payment process in these regions.
- It was agreed between the Yemeni government delegation and the UN Special Envoy’s office to hold a meeting for technicians from the government side and the Houthis side to discuss the mechanism for paying salaries at the beginning of January 2020.
- The Yemeni government team contacted and communicated with the UN Special Envoy’s office on January 15, January 18, January 22, February 5, February 1, February 17, February 3, March 3, April 1, and in May 2020 to push for a meeting with the Houthi putschists to discuss the mechanism of salary payment and the Houthi militia’s breaches of the government initiative. However, its letters regarding the meeting were neither responded to nor were adequate answers provided regarding the Houthi violations of the mechanism.
- Despite the Houthis attempts to promote the perception that there is a blockade of oil derivatives, the reality is that the government of Yemen’s initiative and the mechanism that was approved facilitated the entry of more than 182% of oil derivatives in the first quarter of this year 2020 compared to the same period last year.
- According to the report of the Office of the United Nations Special Envoy to the United Nations Secretary-General and the confession of the Houthis, they violated the mechanism on January 20, 2020, by withdrawing an amount of 17.39 billion Yemeni Riyals (YER); and the UN Special Envoy’s office couldn’t either monitor or audit the accounts of the Central Bank branch in Hodeidah, which made it easier for the Houthis to breach the mechanism again in April by withdrawing 19.03 billion YERs; and on May 17, they withdrew 7.63 billion YERs.
- The Houthi militia has prevented merchants from fulfilling the conditions and from following the procedures stipulated in decrees 75 for the year 2018 and 49 for the year 2019 and thus fabricated an oil crisis.
- In mid-June 2020, two oil derivatives dealers working in the Houthi-controlled areas imported more than 29 thousand tons of diesel through the Port of Al-Mukalla, in order to transport them to Sana’a to alleviate the oil derivatives crisis in those areas and paid more than 417 million YERs in customs fees and government taxes.
- The Houthi militia stopped and held more than 270 oil trucks at its checkpoints and prevented them from entering cities to cover the market needs in those areas. These many oil trucks are distributed as follows: 120 on Al-Jawf Road; 70 in Afar on Al-Bayda Road; and 80 on Taiz Road.
- The Houthi militia also has stockpiled oil derivatives in homes belonging to black-market merchants in order to create an oil derivative crisis. The incident last week of the burning of fuel tanks (June 23, 2020) was in a house of a black-market trader (Mr. Naji Al-Hakim). This is clear evidence, and the volume of storage was so immense that it sparked a major fire, burning 30 houses in the vicinity of the merchant’s home.