Guterres Supports Call By UN Officials For US To Reverse Houthi Designation - Spokesman

UNITED NATIONS (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th January, 2021) UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres supports the call made earlier by three senior UN officials appealing to the United States to reverse the decision to designate Yemen's Houthi movement as a terrorist organization, United Nations spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said in a press briefing on Thursday.

Earlier in the day, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Mark Lowcock and World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley urged the United States to revoke its plans to designate the Houthis, fearing that the decision would have catastrophic humanitarian consequences for Yemen's population.

"Of course," Dujarric said when asked whether Guterres supports the UN officials urging for the reversal of Washington's decision. "They speak on his behalf on Yemen, on issues of humanitarian, on political issues.

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Late on Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the State Department intended to notify Congress of its plans to designate the Houthi movement as a terrorist organization and brand three of its leaders - Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abd al-Khaliq Badr al-Din al-Houthi and Abdullah Yahya al Hakim - as Specially Designated Global Terrorists.

Lowcock said the move by the United States will likely result in a 400 percent increase in the cost of food throughout Yemen because the availability of food in the country mostly depends on imports that will be restricted under the US designation.

WFP's Beasley warned that if the US designation comes into force on January 19, some 80 percent of Yemen's population, or 24 million people, will immediately start moving into the agency's Level Three crisis classification, encompassing the world's most severe humanitarian emergencies.