Al-Houthi’s piracy of alms expands the scope of the famine under his control

English - Sunday 24 April 2022 الساعة 11:16 am
Sana'a, NewsYemen, private:

On the sidewalk opposite the gate of a restaurant on Al-Zubayri Street in the center of Sanaa, dozens of begging women and girls line up before the evening meal of every Ramadan this year.  She tells NewsYemen that the restaurant workers help her by keeping the rest of the customers' food in plastic bags and serving her and her companions a late dinner for a hungry family.

The Houthi militia in Sanaa believes that one Ramadan breakfast for one day is sufficient for a family of 5 members. This family needs three daily meals, with an average of 90 meals per month. The Houthi has looted the pension of the breadwinner of this family since September 2016, and this month (Ramadan) has been banned arrival of Ramadan alms to merchants.

The residents of Sana’a and the neighboring governorates sold their savings to fight starvation and high prices. Poverty expanded to include the middle and affluent class. Most families are in need of zakat funds, alms, and assistance from merchants and philanthropists. But the modesty and chastity of these families and their rejection of the Houthi militia’s extortion keeps them out of the group’s lists. 

Residents of Sanaa assert that the food baskets provided by the Houthi militia conditioned on dependency, loyalty, and sectarian and sectarian ideologies are not equal to 1% of the number of needy families in the Houthi militia’s control areas.

Merchants resort to smuggling Ramadan alms

(S.A. - a retailer in Sana’a) says that he knows many chaste families in his residential surroundings who are in dire need of assistance, and to escape what he described as Houthi piracy on Ramadan alms, this merchant intends to deliver what is available of Ramadan alms to these families in a secret way away from  The eyes of the Houthi militia.

At the gate of one mosque in Sana'a, dozens of beggars, men, women and children, line up after each prayer during the month of Ramadan, asking people to fulfill their needs, such as dinner, medicine for sick patients, and other basic needs.

In a low voice, one of the citizens comments on the scene, saying: “Do not have mercy on people, and do not let God’s mercy descend.” In his speech to (NewsYemen), this citizen - an old resident of Sanaa - refuses to explain further, only indicating that in the city of Sanaa they have not witnessed such evil.  (i.e. preventing merchants from distributing alms) and they had not heard of it from their fathers and grandfathers throughout the history of Sanaa, which extends for thousands of years.

Abdul-Waseh Qaid (a government employee -40 years old) recalls receiving a food basket years ago from the merchant Haider Fahem, "it was enough for us for 4 months," noting that he and his co-workers received a first salary and a salary at the end of the month in Ramadan, in addition to a tip salary.

In his speech to (NewsYmen), Abdel-Waseh complains of his inability to meet the obligations of the expenses of Ramadan and Eid this year, "We sold what is above us and what is below us to pay the rent of housing and provide food and medicine," noting that the issue of borrowing from friends has also become very difficult, "the situation of everyone is the same " as he put it.