RIYADH — The Joint Forces Command of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen provided all facilitation and necessary clearances for the WFP-chartered container ship, AS PAOLA, to move medical equipment and food assistance from Port of Jeddah to Hodeida Port, which has been under the Houthi militia's control for the past five years. The container ship departed Jeddah Port on Monday (June 1) and it is expected to reach Hodeida Port in Yemen on Wednesday morning. The container ship, AS PAOLA, is providing shipping services for the World Food Programme for humanitarian and relief action in Yemen, following one of the two WFP previously chartered ships could not be used to continue shipping services due to entering quarantine period in Port of Hodeida. These facilitations are under the Coalition's framework of support to relief organizations operating in Yemen to provide humanitarian and relief assistance to the Yemeni people, and that it reaches the ones truly in need, as a result of the deteriorating humanitarian situation due to the coup of the Houthi militia against the Yemeni government. The container ship is en-route to Port of Hodeida carrying 1,869 metric tons of medical equipment and 8,867 metric tons of food assistance under the WFR's humanitarian and relief efforts in Yemen. Saudi Arabia is the top donor for the WFP operations in Yemen over the past five years through the Yemen Humanitarian Response Plans. The executive director of the UN WFP, David Beasley, has accused the Houthi militia of preventing the United Nations from feeding the hungriest people in Yemen in areas controlled by it and diverting the aid. Condemning the Houthi militia's intransigence and deliberate deepening of Yemenis' suffering in an address to the UN Security Council, Beasley had said: "In Yemen we're fortunate enough to have the money we need...we just don't have the access." Under the Houthi militia's intransigence and deliberate deepening of Yemenis' suffering in areas it controls or cities it besieges, and obstruction of UN and non-governmental organizations work, the executive director of the UN WFP, David Beasley, said when he addressed the United Nations Security Council regarding the militia's pillaging of WFP-provided assistance: "In Yemen we're fortunate enough to have the money we need...we just don't have the access."
