US President Cancels Yemeni Houthi Terror Designation

The United States has said it intends to revoke the terrorist designation of the Houthi movement in response to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis – reversing one of the most criticised last-minute decisions of the Trump administration. The reversal, confirmed by the state department, comes a day after Joe Biden declared a halt to US support for the Saudi Arabia-led military campaign in Yemen.

The state department stressed the action did not reflect the US view of the Houthis and their “reprehensible conduct … Our action is due entirely to the humanitarian consequences of this last-minute designation from the prior administration, which the United Nations and humanitarian organisations have since made clear would accelerate the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.”

The United Nations describes Yemen as the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis with 80% of its people in need. A UN spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said: “We welcome the stated intention by the US administration to revoke the designation as it will provide profound relief to millions of Yemenis who rely on humanitarian assistance and commercial imports to meet their basic survival needs.”

The then US secretary of state Mike Pompeo blacklisted the Houthis on 19 January, a day before Biden took office. The Trump administration exempted aid groups, the UN, Red Cross and the export of agricultural commodities, medicine and medical devices from the designation. But UN officials and relief groups said this was not enough and called for the designation to be revoked. The Saudi-led military coalition intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Houthis. UN officials are trying to revive peace talks as the country also faces an economic crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.