UN threatens to suspend food aid to Yemen

United Nations on Monday warned that humanitarian aid to war-torn Yemen could be suspended if Houthi rebels controlling the region do not comply with the accord signed last year and stop diversion of food supplies.

"Humanitarian workers in Yemen are being denied access to the hungry; aid convoys have been blocked, and local authorities have interfered with food distribution. This has to stop," the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said in a statement.

The UN, which is feeding more than 10 million people across Yemen, has also alleged that the "obstructive and uncooperative" rebel leaders are hampering the independent selection of beneficiaries.

"If the beneficiary targeting and biometric exercise is not carried out as agreed, WFP will be left with no option but to suspend food distributions in the areas controlled by Ansarullah, the Houthis," David Beasley, the agency's executive director, wrote in a letter sent to the rebels.

The accord was signed by WFP with the warring parties in Sanaa in December and January.

The WFP has also earlier expressed discontent over the Houthis' behaviour. It had collected evidence showing the rebel group diverting shipments of food.

"This conduct amounts to the stealing of food from the mouths of hungry people," Beasley said last September.

Yemen has been engulfed in a civil war since 2015. Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi's government, backed by Saudi-led coalition, is in violent conflict with Houthi forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.