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Op-Ed: Iranian aid ship avoids confrontation and docks at Djibouti

Farhan Haq, a UN deputy spokesperson, said on Wednesday that it had received word from the Iranian government that the ship “will proceed to Djibouti.” Earlier the ship was said to be docking directly at Hodeida and that all the required clearances had been made with the UN. However, early on Wednesday Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Abdollahan told an Iranian news agency the delivery would be in “full coordination with the UN.” That now seems to mean going through the UN hub in Djibouti rather than directly docking in Hodeida, as was reported by Iran earlier. The decision defuses a potentially dangerous confrontation between Iran and the US. On Thursday, a US official said that the Iranian ship was anchored off the port of Djibouti in Djibouti and would dock within hours.

The U.S. had demanded that the ship not dock at Hodeida but proceed to Djibouti and had been shadowing the ship as it travelled towards Yemen with two ships escorting it. It seemed possible that the US might prevent the ship docking in Hodeida by force if necessary. It makes sense for the ship to dock there. UN authorities could monitor the unloading to ensure that there were no weapons being offloaded. Instead the ship has had to travel to Djibouti. It is not clear whether the ship is to be inspected there and perhaps to travel back to Hodeida with UN monitors or whether it will be required to offload its aid in Djibouti for the UN to distribute. There might be no guarantee that the aid would then be delivered to Hodeida, an area controlled by the Houthi rebels. I wonder if Saudi Arabia agrees to distribute all its aid through the UN. I presume it provides aid wherever it can just as it does with military supplies and does not give humanitarian aid to areas held by the Houthi rebels. Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon has urged all countries and organizations to arrange aid deliveries with the UN in Djibouti for onward distribution in Yemen.

Djibouti is a small country of about 800,000 or so people not far from Yemen. Many refugees have fled to Djibouti to escape the conflict in Yemen. Camp Lemonnier, the only permanent US military base in Africa is located in Djibouti. It serves as a hub for aerial operations throughout the Gulf region including drone attacks.

The UN estimates 1,820 people have been killed in the Yemen conflict since March 18 and another 7,330 wounded up to May 7. There are peace talks slated in Geneva later in May but it is not clear yet who will attend.

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