In July, Saudi Arabia agreed to lend $2 billion to the puppet government central bank office in Aden. Money has been directed away from Houthi-controlled areas where most Yemenis survive and most food imports arrive. In December, Deputy Governor Shokeib Hobeishy said that only $340 million of that money has been used, but it was unclear how much had reached companies to import food.
Some traders say Aden favours government-held areas. One big importer said it was not possible to ship new wheat cargoes to the ports of Hodeidah and Salif due to lack of payment. The importer still waits for over $50 million in foreign currency.
The central bank is struggling to pay public-sector wages. It has access to a Federal Reserve account of $200 million, while the Bank of England, in a great example of “justice”, has frozen 87 million pounds:
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-food/a-bank-divided-yemens-financial-crisis-hits-food-imports-idUSKCN1OJ1PUSaudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have hired tens of thousands of desperate Sudanese mercenaries to do their fighting. At any time for the last 3 years, as many as 14,000 Sudanese mercenaries have been fighting in Yemen.
They were paid in Saudi riyals, the equivalent of about $480 a month for a 14-year-old novice to about $530 a month for an experienced Janjaweed officer. They received an additional $185 to $285 per month of combat. Every 6 months, each fighter also received a bonus of at least 700,000 Sudanese pounds (roughly $10,000).
By comparison, a Sudanese doctor working overtime at multiple jobs could earn $500 a month...
A Sudanese critic of the government explained:
People are desperate. They are fighting in Yemen because they know that in Sudan they don’t have a future. We are exporting soldiers to fight like they are a commodity we are exchanging for foreign currency.
Most of the Sudanese mercenaries are survivors of the conflict in Darfur, many of them children. Returned Sudanese mercenaries have told that roughly 20-40% of the Sudanese mercenaries fighting in Yemen are underage (children).
Ironically Sudanese families actually bribe local militia leaders so that their children can fight in Yemen.
Thousands of Sudanese mercenaries have been killed in action by the Houthis.
Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir has been an international pariah for years. His alliance with the UAE and Saudis has eased his international isolation by diplomatic support from the “coalition”:
http://archive.is/NwCnI(original article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/28/world/africa/saudi-sudan-yemen-child-fighters.html)
Most of the Sudanese mercenaries come from the battle-scarred and impoverished region of Darfur, where some 300,000 people were killed and 1.2 million displaced during a dozen years of conflict.
Most belong to the Janjaweed that were blamed for the systematic
**** of women and girls, indiscriminate killing and other war crimes during Darfur’s conflict.
Last year, the Trump administration announced sanctions on the powerful Yemeni Islamist warlord Abu al-Abbas, because of working for al-Qaeda.
But Abu al-Abbas has boasted that he has received millions of dollars in weapons and financial support for his fighters from the United Arab Emirates.
In August, the Associated Press published that the coalition systematically hires al-Qaeda members to fight the Houthis.
The war on Yemen has strengthened jihadist groups both directly and indirectly:
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/the-u-s-is-on-the-side-of-terrorists-and-war-criminals-in-yemen/Also interesting is the support by employees of BAE Systems, EADS and associated companies to Saudi Arabia between 2000 and 2016.
Job specifications from BAE Systems of February 2017, show that BAE employees continue to coordinate maintenance for the weapons systems of all RSAF’s Tornado IDS, both in training and operational squadrons.
The number one shareholder in BAE Systems is the Capital Group (also a major shareholder in other arms manufacturers) where the husband of Britain’s PM Theresa, Philip May, is an investment relationship manager.
Another major shareholder in BAE Systems is BlackRock (also a major shareholder in other companies including weapon producers) that pays Bullingdon Boy George Osborne £650,000 a year for “working” a mere 48 days.
Rothschild Capital Partners is also a major profiteer of the war in the Middle East as it holds a 2.8% stake in Lockheed Martin:
https://www.lawfulpath.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=713&start=190#p5014