The Houthi group continues its hostile actions, exacerbating the suffering of millions of Yemenis by persistently closing major roads, and hindering the movement of people and goods between different provinces.
Sources revealed that mediation efforts to reopen closed roads have stalled for over 10 years due to the Houthi group’s stubbornness, which has set unrealistic conditions for opening the Marib-Nahm-Sana’a road.
Yemeni writer and analyst Majed Al-Da’ari explained that the Houthi group exploits the road issue to achieve political and military gains at the expense of the suffering of millions of Yemenis who face great difficulty in mobility.
This situation also disrupts the transportation of goods and food items, exacerbating the repercussions of the food security crisis in Yemen.
Al-Da’ari emphasized to “Al-Ittihad” that reopening roads is an urgent necessity and a fundamental step for any solution to the economic and political crisis in Yemen.
It’s also a crucial step in alleviating the humanitarian crisis faced by the people, both in the north and south, especially since it has reached an intolerable level.
Yemeni local mediation hoped to reopen main roads between Marib and Sana’a, and to open roads in Taiz during the holy month of Ramadan.
However, the Houthi group obstructed the efforts of mediators, indicating its lack of willingness to open roads by announcing the opening of alternative non-main roads that do not achieve the desired goal of easing the burden.
Al-Da’ari stated: The Yemeni people bear the brunt of the crisis, manifested clearly in the high cost of living resulting from road closures and the difficulty of transporting goods and commodities. He stressed the need for this humanitarian issue to be a top priority and not subject to procrastination.
The legitimate Yemeni government previously announced an initiative to unilaterally open closed roads to alleviate the suffering of civilians during travel and cargo transport.
It confirmed that the Houthi group refused to open the road connecting Marib to Nahm and then to Sana’a, and instead announced an alternative route passing through Khawlan to the Sarwah district in Marib province, which is a secondary road that does not allow the passage of cargo trucks and passenger buses.
Yemeni political activist Ayedah Bin La’sam explained to “Al-Ittihad” that the Houthi group does not care about any step or initiative that alleviates the suffering of Yemenis.
On the contrary, it works to deepen the humanitarian crisis through hostile practices that exacerbate the living crises, by insisting on continuing road closures and seeking to destroy the road network linking the provinces.
A study by the Yemeni Center for Economic Studies and Media revealed that the Houthi group caused significant damage to about 29% of the total urban road network, with about 500 kilometers of roads completely destroyed, and 50% of the road network in the cities of Al-Hazm, Taiz, Sa’dah, and Marib severely affected.
In the same context, the Houthi group deliberately thwarted UN agreements aimed at opening roads between provinces, including the 2018 Stockholm Agreement, which stipulated lifting the siege on Taiz province and opening roads between Hodeidah and neighboring provinces.
