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<\/p>\nThe United States announced on Friday it was\u00a0revoking the designation\u00a0of Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels as a terrorist group effective February 16, a reversal by the Biden administration which was welcomed by the United Nations and humanitarian groups who feared former president Donald Trump\u2019s actions would impede aid deliveries to the conflict-torn country facing the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis.<\/p>\n
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called President Joe Biden\u2019s decision to rescind the designation \u201ca recognition of the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
He said the new US administration listened to warnings from the United Nations, humanitarian groups, bipartisan members of Congress and others \u201cthat the designations could have a devastating impact on Yemenis\u2019 access to basic commodities like food and fuel\u201d.<\/p>\n
Yemen imports 90 per cent of its food, nearly all purchased through commercial channels, and UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned last month that the US designation of the Houthis already had companies pulling back from dealing with the Yemenis and would likely lead to \u201ca large-scale famine on a scale that we have not seen for nearly 40 years\u201d.<\/p>\n
Blinken\u2019s announcement followed a phone conversation on Thursday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, where Yemen was one of the issues they discussed.<\/p>\n
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric on Friday called the US action \u201cextremely positive\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe hope that helps build momentum for a political solution to the conflict in Yemen,\u201d Dujarric said. \u201cI think the reversal of the designation, the naming of the [US] special envoy [for Yemen], and the clear, clear language from the top of the administration, from president Biden himself, expressing his strong support for the UN-led mediation process […] are very, very welcome indeed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In 2014, the rebel Houthis overran the capital, Sanaa, and much of Yemen\u2019s north, driving the government into exile. A US-backed, Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to try and restore the internationally recognised government, but years of UN efforts to get both sides to agree to a ceasefire and start peace negotiations have not succeeded.<\/p>\n
The conflict has been disastrous for Yemen, the Arab world\u2019s poorest country, killing more than 112,000 people, creating a humanitarian disaster, and wrecking infrastructure from roads and hospitals to water and electricity networks.<\/p>\n
The State Department confirmed last week that Biden was moving to revoke the designation, a day after the president announced an\u00a0end to offensive support\u00a0to Saudi Arabia\u2019s campaign against the Houthis.<\/p>\n
The US announcement came on the day that four\u00a0United Nations agencies\u00a0said more than two million Yemeni children under the age of five were expected to endure acute malnutrition in 2021 and urged an end to the conflict.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the UN envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, met in Riyadh with the Saudi defence minister and other senior Saudi officials as well as the new US special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, to discuss the latest developments in the country \u201cand ways to resume the political process\u201d.<\/p>\n
Blinken said by revoking the terrorist designations against the Houthis, \u201cwe hope the Yemeni parties can also focus on engaging in dialogue.\u201d<\/p>\n
He stressed that Houthi leaders remain under US sanctions and said the Biden administration is \u201cactively identifying additional targets for designation, especially those responsible for explosive boat attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea\u201d and drone and missile attacks on Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n
Blinken said the United States \u201cremains clear-eyed\u201d about the Houthis\u2019 \u201cmalign actions and aggressions including taking control of large areas of Yemen by force, attacking US partners in the Gulf, kidnapping and torturing citizens of the United States and many of our allies, diverting humanitarian aid, brutally repressing Yemenis in areas they control, and the deadly attack on December 30, 2020 in Aden against the cabinet of the legitimate government of Yemen.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The United States announced on Friday it was\u00a0revoking the designation\u00a0of Yemen\u2019s Houthi rebels as a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4465,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-world"],"yoast_head":"\n