Major aid shipments of rice, grain and food baskets intended for needy populations in Taiz, Yemen, have been stolen by militants on both sides of the conflict in that country.
“The army that should protect the air is looting the aid,” humanitarian official Nabil al-Hakimi told the Associated Press for a Monday report. Some 14 million Yemenis, or half of Yemen's population, live on the brink of starvation as a result of the chaos that's roiled the country since Saudi Arabia and a coalition of Arab states initiated a campaign against the Shiite Muslim Houthis in 2015 at the behest of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The United Nations estimates these 14 million people are living in “pre-famine conditions,” UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Mark Lowcock said October 23.
International aid sent to Yemen has frequently failed to reach its intended recipients; instead, armed groups paid by Riyadh have pillaged the shipments, according to AP's review of public and confidential documents and interviews with dozens of humanitarian workers in the country.
To militants on the ground, international food aid has looked like dollar signs. Armed groups withhold food from civilian populations considered disloyal, siphon aid packages to feed themselves and sell the aid on the black market, the report says.
In Taiz, the third largest city in Yemen and under the control of Saudi-backed forces, much of the…
