Imposing imports through Hodeidah.. Al-Houthi tightens the screws on merchants to increase his treasury money
English - Tuesday 14 February 2023 الساعة 09:02 am
Aden, NewsYemen, exclusive:
The Houthi militia, Iran's arm in Yemen, continues to take more separatist decisions and measures that isolate its areas of control from the rest of the liberated Yemeni governorates and separate sectors of the state independently.
During the past days, the Houthi militia refused to hand over a number of merchants and importers of their goods that were held in ports under its control, except after they signed a "written pledge" document by them not to deal with the legitimate government, or to import through the liberated ports, and forcing them to import through the port of Hodeidah and Sana'a airport only. .
According to the circulated document, the Houthi customs authority forced merchants and importers at the ports separating the areas under their control and the liberated governorates to import through Hodeidah port and Sanaa airport only, in a measure that enhances the separation and division of the Yemeni economy sector.
The Houthi militia requires all merchants and importers in its areas of control not to import through the ports of Aden, the land ports with Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, and to deal exclusively through the ports of Hodeidah, and through a Houthi shipping company with which the Houthi agreed to allocate only two ships to ship goods through Hodeidah.
Observers believe that the new measures imposed by the Houthi coup militia aim to increase the revenues of the Houthi militia and deprive the internationally recognized Yemeni government of an important resource.
They emphasized that this arbitrary measure and irresponsible intransigence comes in the context of the policy of restrictions and financial extortion operations of the Houthi militia and its repeated attempts to force merchants and owners of import companies to stop their work and open the way for their companies and merchants to complete previous steps within an organized process to control and take over the private sector.
The document received a wave of disapproval, wide interaction, and comments that reveal an aspect of the suffering of merchants and importers. The "Newsyemen" editor monitored some responses to it.
Trader Bassam Abdel-Wahhab, in a post attached to a copy of the same document: “Sign this pledge, otherwise your goods will not leave the customs yard, and accordingly we announce that this will be the last import process for us.
Zahraa Adnan, an employee of a commercial establishment in Sana'a, commented: "Even the customs of Al-Rahda have the same money. They detained them for a month and paid us the value of the containers and took them out after we got out ourselves."
Trader Ahmed Nasser commented, "There is no interlocutory shipping company that ships to Hodeidah because it does not have guarantees, and ships sit for long months, meaning that goods are delayed and parking fees are double, and I expect everyone to understand the situation greatly from the tragedy of oil and its entry."
And he adds: "In any country where there are facilities and advantages for investors that encourage them to stay and invest and facilitate them with all facilities, except with us, unfortunately, the investor will return as a loser, and he will not have any benefit except for colon and stomach pain."
A trader, who preferred not to be named, considered that "this Houthi measure is irresponsible, calling on the Houthis to open the port of Hodeidah and demarcation rationally, not exaggerated prices."
In a sarcastic comment by the activist Walid Al-Omari on the document: “If the port of Hodeidah is closed and ships are not allowed to enter it, how does the merchant do the goods parachuting over the port, the right of the group, have you returned with your brains, have they not flown..!?”.
Merchants' goods are exposed to deliberate manual tampering and abuse by members of the Houthi militia at the separatist customs outlets they control in the border areas with the liberated governorates, and imposition of levies and fees illegally, as part of a systematic policy to harass merchants and force them to stop importing through the ports of the legitimate government.
Since the beginning of March 2021, the Houthi coup militia has imposed more than 50% of customs fees - illegal - on goods entering their areas of control. This is a large percentage that will lead to a new rise in prices and increase the suffering of citizens in the areas controlled by the Houthis, which generate billions of riyals in their favor.
Earlier, the representative of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Sana'a, which is under the control of the Houthi militia, revealed abuses imposed by the person impersonating the head of the Sana'a Customs Authority, and the imposition of customs duties that exceed the original price of the commodity. Pointing out that the improvement fees increased from 4,000 to 400,000 riyals, and all these increases are incurred by the citizen.
