UPDATE 8-U.S. to designate Yemen’s Houthi movement as foreign terrorist group
RIYADH/ WASHINGTON, Jan 11- The outgoing U.S. administration is to designate Yemen’s Houthi movement as a foreign terrorist organization, a move the United Nations warned could undermine peace talks and make it harder to feed Yemenis enduring the world’s largest humanitarian crisis. A leader of the Iranian-aligned group, which has been battling a Saudi-led…
* Aid groups warn of catastrophic humanitarian crisis
* Pompeo says there will be measures to reduce impact on aid
* Saudi Arabia hopes Houthis will be forced to negotiate(Adds details on contentious briefing with congressional aides,comments)
By Aziz El Yaakoubi, Jonathan Landay and Matt Spetalnick
RIYADH/WASHINGTON, Jan 11 (Reuters) – The outgoing U.S.administration is to designate Yemen’s Houthi movement as aforeign terrorist organization, a move the United Nations warnedcould undermine peace talks and make it harder to feed Yemenisenduring the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
A leader of the Iranian-aligned group, which has beenbattling a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen since 2015 in a warwidely seen as a proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia,said it reserved the right to respond.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the move, whichwill include sanctions against the movement and three of itsleaders, in a statement late on Sunday, hours after Reutersreported it. It will come into effect on Jan. 19, the Trumpadministration’s last full day in office.
“It’s clear that the decision is likely to have serioushumanitarian and political repercussions,” U.N. spokesmanStephane Dujarric told reporters on Monday, urging Washington toswiftly grant exemptions to ensure aid is not disrupted.
Dujarric also said the United Nations was “concerned thatthe designation may have a detrimental impact on efforts toresume the political process in Yemen, as well as to polarizeeven more the positions of the parties to the conflict.”
U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration has been pilingon sanctions related to Iran in recent weeks, suggesting to somethat the Republican wants to make it harder for Democrat JoeBiden’s administration to re-engage with Iran and rejoin the2015 Iran nuclear deal after he becomes president on Jan. 20.
For Biden to undo the designation would require a lengthylegal review, and he could also face political obstacles fromIran hardliners in Congress.
Yemen’s Saudi-backed government called for further pressureon the Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in late 2014 andcontrol much of northern Yemen.
Saudi Arabia, which has been attacked by Houthi-launchedmissiles and drones from Yemen, said the move would “neutralise”the threat posed by the Houthis by depriving them of arms andfunds and would bring them back to the negotiating table.
‘BANKRUPT U.S. GOVERNMENT’
The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system and denybeing controlled by Iran. Houthi official Mohammed Ali al-Houthicalled the Trump administration’s behaviour “terrorist,”tweeting: “We reserve the right to respond to anydesignation…”
An Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman told a weekly newsconference that a “bankrupt U.S. government” was poisoning itslegacy and tarnishing the United States’ image.
The United Nations is trying to revive talks to end Yemen’sconflict, which has driven the poorest state on the Arabianpeninsula into an economic and humanitarian crisis, exacerbatedby the COVID-19 pandemic.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres had warned against apossible designation, saying Yemen was in imminent danger ofentering the worst famine the world has seen for decades.
Oxfam America’s humanitarian policy lead Scott Paul calledPompeo’s move “counter-productive and dangerous”.
The Norwegian Refugee Council called for guarantees toensure sanctions did not prevent deliveries of food, fuel andmedicines – which 80% of the population rely on.
Pompeo said the U.S. Treasury would provide licences forsome humanitarian activities conducted by non-governmentalorganizations in Yemen and for some transactions related toexports of critical commodities such as food and medicine.
Relief officials have said licences often fail to reassurebanks and insurers they will not fall afoul of sanctions.
U.S. officials had a contentious briefing with congressionalstaff on Monday in which they were accused of lying to Congressand gave little information on how aid groups would provide foodand other necessities to Yemen, congressional aides said.
Administration officials also did not make clear whethersuch licenses would allow the private sector, which provides themajority of food to Yemen, to keep doing so, the aides said.
One aide said a U.S. Agency for International Developmentofficial told those on the call that the move would have a”catastrophic” effect on Yemeni children.
He described the move as “a politically driven decision atthe 11th hour … without any consultation with the incomingadministration about an issue that has serious ramifications forthe people of Yemen … and for our ability to help resolve theconflict.”
A State Department representative declined comment about thecongressional briefing or its internal deliberations.
“The Houthis are an integral part of Yemeni society,” saidRyan Crocker, a retired U.S. ambassador who served in the MiddleEast. “This is making a strategic enemy out of a local forcethat has been part of Yemen for generations.”
(Reporting by Aziz El Yakoubi in Riyadh and Matt Spetalnick inWashingtonAdditional reporting by Michelle Nichols in New York, KanishkaSingh in Bengaluru, Lisa Barrington, Parisa Hafezi and Hadeel AlSayegh in Dubai; and by Arshad Mohammed in WashingtonWriting by Humeyra Pamuk and Ghaida GhantousEditing by Jonathan Oatis and Matthew Lewis)
