Questions arise as WFP claims shipment seized in Yemen

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Thursday 18 Feb 2016 - 13:31 Makkah mean time-9-5-1437 Riyadh, (IINA) - The World Food Program (WFP) said on Tuesday that the communications equipment stopped by the Saudi-led Coalition from entering Yemen on one of its chartered ships belonged to the UN, Arab News reported. The UN humanitarian organization said the Mainport Cedar, which was diverted to the Saudi port of Jazan on February 11, was carrying a cargo of humanitarian relief supplies bound for the Houthi-controlled port of Hodeida. However, the WFP’s revelation only raised questions. Brigadier General Ahmed Asseri, the coalition’s spokesman, said the communications equipment discovered on the ship during an inspection were similar to that used by the Houthis. Moreover, the equipment were not declared by the WFP. “It sustains the militias in their combat. Why did they not declare it?” Asseri said by phone. The vessel was carrying a container of medical supplies from the Netherlands and two containers of food from Iran, and had originated its journey in the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, Asseri said. Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab coalition in a war against the Houthis terrorist group and army forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh. It has imposed a naval blockade to stop weapons from being imported. The equipment included computers, satellite dishes, solar panels, encryption systems, individual communication devices and other material often used for military purposes and found by Coalition forces in Houthi bases on the Saudi border, Asseri said. In view of the incident, Asseri said the coalition has asked the WFP to review its procedures and personnel to make sure this does not happen again. Abeer Etefa, a senior spokesman for the WFP, confirmed that the agency had received a request by the coalition. “WFP has been asked by the coalition forces to resubmit the paperwork regarding the humanitarian IT equipment”, she said in an e-mail. Nearly 6,000 people have been killed in Yemen since coalition forces intervened in March last year to stop Houthis and Saleh’s troops from ousting the UN-recognized government of Abd Rabbuh Hadi. AG/IINA