The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Mark Lowcock, will call on the United States to reverse its decision to classify Yemen's "Ansar Allah" group as a terrorist organization.
Reuters, which reviewed Lowcock's remarks scheduled for today before the UN Security Council, reported that he warned that the U.S. designation of "Ansar Allah" as a terrorist organization could lead to serious consequences. The agency added that Lowcock will warn the UN that the U.S. decision could lead to famine on an unprecedented scale in Yemen, indicating that the U.S. plan to issue exemptions from sanctions for humanitarian agencies will not prevent famine in Yemen.
The spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General, Stéphane Dujarric, previously confirmed in a press statement that implementing the U.S. plan to include "Ansar Allah" and its leaders on the American terrorism list is likely to have serious humanitarian and political implications, urging the U.S. to expedite the necessary licenses and exemptions to ensure the continuous delivery of essential humanitarian aid to all people without interruptions.
Dujarric considered that this designation could negatively affect efforts to resume the political process in Yemen and lead to further polarization in the positions of the conflicting parties.
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the State Department would notify Congress of its intention to classify the Yemeni Houthi group as a "foreign terrorist organization" and place its prominent leaders, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, Abdul Khaleq Badr al-Din al-Houthi, and Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim, on the terrorism list.
