Official: US-Saudi Aggression Deliberately Imposes Blockade on Yemen

The countries involved in aggression against Yemen deliberately impose blockade on the country and prevent the entry of food, medicine, consumer goods and fuel to the port of Hodeidah, the Deputy Prime Minister Hussein Makbouli confirmed on Saturday.

Makbouli pointed out that the countries of aggression are deliberately doubling the costs of goods through the port of Aden, and the consequent rise in prices and burdening the consumer.

“We are keen on the return of container shipments to the port of Hodeidah to relieve the burden of the citizens and reduce the costs of goods that have risen as a result of the blockade and prevent container ships from reaching the port,” the Deputy Prime Minister added.

The US-Saudi aggression is practicing a comprehensive economic war in Yemen, targeting primarily the citizens in their most basic rights, leading to very large increases in import costs.

Six years have passed since the disgraceful targeting of the port of Hodeidah by the forces of the US-Saudi aggression, which came as part of a comprehensive targeting of all the necessities of life in the country; with the aim of forcing the Yemenis to surrender early.

Moreover, the pro-aggression government has increased the customs exchange rate in Aden in a new crime that will throw many citizens below the poverty line and those previously classified under this line will be trapped in the cycle of extreme poverty.

The Director of Foreign Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Fouad Howaidi has stressed that the commercial sector’s acquiescence to this new conspiracy means a customs increase of 150 per cent, which will be part of the cost of the goods.

The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Finance for the Planning Sector has confirmed that the economic war focused on igniting inflation rates in the country in the absence of a movement of economic activity or an increase in incomes. Ahmed Hajjer said that the standard of living of the individual has fallen to lower levels than it was in 2014 as a result of the lack of income for citizens, cut salaries and the high costs of various commodities. He added that the economic war mainly targets the citizens, especially the poor, as a pressure card on the decision-makers in Sana’a, whether in war or peace.

For his part, Vice President of the Food and Household Traders Syndicate confirmed that transferring imports to the port of Aden did not ease the restrictions imposed on the ports of Hodeidah. Anwar Al-Husseini pointed out that diverting imports from the ports of Hodeidah put the commercial sector in front of new challenges, most notably the high transportation fees to most of the country’s governorates. He said that transportation wages increased due to the scarcity of fuel that was originally besieged as well and because of the deterioration of the infrastructure of transportation lines and the royalties imposed in the areas under the control of the US-Saudi aggression. Al-Husseini added that the internal transport is a burden equal to the burdens of import, and this burden will not be alleviated except by lifting the siege completely on the ports of Hodeidah, the main ports of Yemen closest to the major population bloc in the country.