Okaz/Saudi Gazette JEDDAH — A Yemeni NGO has exposed the reality of the strong links between the Iran-backed Houthi militia and various terrorist organizations. Mohammed Al-Omda, chief of the Yemen Organization for Defending Rights and Democratic Freedoms unveiled on Tuesday documents showing the link between the Houthi militia and Al-Qaeda and Daesh (so called IS) terrorists. Al-Omda handed over a documented report to Rawanthika Gunaratne, an international law expert of the Sanctions Committee Team, containing criminal files of all those involved with the Houthi militias and all those who have collaborated with them and committed crimes against civilians. There were also documents proving the Houthi militia's association with terrorist organizations and their role in undermining the state authorities and seizing the country's capabilities and turning it into a Houthi war effort. Al-Omda also exposed the abuses and corruption of international organizations working in Yemen. In his report presented to Gunaratne, who is in charge of submitting periodic reports to the UN Security Council, he confirmed that on Nov. 2, 2017, an international organization handed over $14 million to the leaders of Houthis who usurped the Yemeni Ministry of Education. He drew attention to the fact that these agencies are using the fund to lay mines inside Yemen and along the Saudi borders. According to the report, the United Nations handed over 20 four-wheel drive vehicles to the Houthis in support of the so-called Demining Program on May 29 this year as a reward to the executioner. He also pointed out that the World Relief, an NGO, signed an agreement with the Houthi leader Mohammed Ali Al-Houthi to hand over money as relief instead of relief materials, and that is in contravention with the UN Resolution 2216. Al-Omda accused organizations operating in the Houthi-controlled areas of employing Houthi leaders in the relief offices in Sanaa, who control the choice of the names of beneficiaries for relief assistance. The organization also provided files proving the exploitation of the humanitarian situation of the Yemeni people and forcing their children as recruits to their forces in return for the delivery of humanitarian assistance, and the sale of relief rations in the black markets in order to use its proceeds for the war effort. He called on the United Nations to disclose details of the billions of dollars it had received for the relief of the Yemeni people; how they were disbursed, and what was the mechanism of disbursement. He pointed out that corruption of officials at the UN organizations is closely linked to corruption on the part of Houthis. "This harmed the Yemeni people, confiscated their rights, and exposed them to human suffering". Al-Omda called for a transparent and urgent investigation into cases of violations of human rights, and to hold accountable those involved politically, legally and criminally in accordance with international conventions and agreements and rules of the international humanitarian law.
