UN Urges Houthi Rebels to Stop Blocking Access to Food Storage - Senior Official

UNITED NATIONS (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 08th February, 2019) Groups affiliated with Yemen's rebel Houthi movement should give the United Nations access to the Red Sea Mills food storage facility in the coming days, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said in a statement on Thursday.

"I implore all parties, in particular, Ansar Allah affiliated groups, to finalize an agreement and facilitate access to the mills in the coming days," Lowcock said. "Access to the mills grows ever more urgent as time passes and the risk of spoilage to the remaining grain increases."

Lowcock explained that forces linked to the Houthi movement have refused to let UN personnel cross the front lines to access the Red Sea Mills food storage, which is located in the area controlled by Yemen's government, due to security concerns.

In January, mortar bombs struck two silos at the mills, destroying enough grain stored in the facility to feed hundreds of thousands of people for a month, Lowcock added.

Nearly 10 million people in Yemen are facing severe lack of food.

In December, during UN-sponsored talks in Stockholm, Yemen's warring parties agreed to a ceasefire in Al Hudaydah and pledged to implement various humanitarian measures, including an exchange of prisoners and establishment of humanitarian corridors.

Yemen has been engulfed in an armed conflict between the government forces led by President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi and the Houthi rebels for several years. The Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015.