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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

‘Food is a weapon’: Fight over Yemen granary tests truce

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HODEIDA, Yemen: Gunshots reverberate through a battle-scarred granary in the port city of Hodeida, where a mountain of grain meant for starving Yemenis remains inaccessible as a ceasefire comes under strain.


The Red Sea Mills, one of the last positions seized by coalition forces before last month’s UN-brokered truce, holds wheat that could feed nearly four million people for a month in a country on the brink of famine.


But the facility, a shrapnel-pocked symbol of how controlling food is a weapon in Yemen’s war, has remained off-limits to aid organisations since September as skirmishes shake the fragile ceasefire agreed with Ansar Allah during talks in Sweden.


The site, on Hodeida’s eastern edges, was rigged heavily with mines when it slipped from Ansar Allah’s control in November.


Last week, during a military embed organised by the Saudi-led coalition, AFP saw government loyalists including Sudanese soldiers scouring the vast complex with metal detectors amid fears rebels were sneaking in to plant new booby traps.


Sudan is a member of the coalition.


A column of smoke snaked into the sky from Ansar Allah positions less than 1.6 km away, with loyalists saying the fighters were burning tyres in a provocative move. Then, a volley of close-range gunshots crackled through the complex. It was not possible to tell who was firing.


“We are committed to the truce… but the enemy has not committed to anything as you can see and hear,” said Yemeni commander Mohammed Salman, standing by a pile of grain.


Just after the tour, the UN on Friday reported apparent mortar shelling at the mill had started a fire that left two food silos damaged.


“The loss of this wheat comes at a terrible time,” said the UN’s humanitarian coordinator Lise Grande.


“More than 20 million Yemenis, nearly 70 per cent of the entire population, are hungry.”


In Hodeida, the entry point for more than two-thirds of Yemen’s food imports and international aid, the choices are stark — either an imperfect truce with violations on both sides or all-out fighting that could unleash famine. The ceasefire came after Western nations pressed the coalition to end its four-year military campaign in Yemen.


But with recurring breaches, observers warn that its collapse could be just a matter of time.


“If it is allowed to break down, there will be no opportunity for a similar deal for a long time,” the International Crisis Group said.


Inside Hodeida, a city rippling with tension as the war-wounded continue to trickle into hospitals, a common refrain among civilians and military officials is “mafi hudna” — Arabic for “no truce”. — AFP



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