Local Editor
The World Food Program (WFP) says communications equipment that Saudi Arabia stopped from entering Yemen on one of its chartered ships last week, fearing it was meant for the Houthi Asarullah revolutionaries, belonged to the United Nations.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition in a war against the Houthis and army forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in March to allegedly restore fugitive former President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
It has imposed a naval blockade to stop weapons being imported and was reported in Arab media on Monday as saying the communications equipment had been meant for the Houthis.
The Mainport Cedar, which the U.N. humanitarian organization said was carrying a cargo of humanitarian relief supplies bound for the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida, was diverted by the coalition to the Saudi port of Jizan on Feb. 11.
Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, the coalition’s spokesman, said the communications equipment was similar to that used by the Houthis, had been discovered on the ship during an inspection and had not been declared by the WFP.
The vessel was carrying a container of medical supplies from the Netherlands and two containers of food from Iran, and had originated its journey in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, Asseri said.
"WFP has been asked by the coalition forces to resubmit the paperwork regarding the humanitarian IT equipment," Abeer Etefa, senior spokesman for the WFP said by email.
The equipment included computers, satellite dishes, solar panels, encryption systems, individual communication devices and other material often used for military purposes, Asseri said.
Nearly 8,300 people have been killed in Yemen since Saudi-led forces began military aggression in Yemen in March last year.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
