Yamanat
Anas Al-Qubati
My story of displacement sums up the reality of corruption that turned the relief allocated to those affected by war into a means of enrichment at the expense of those who truly deserve it.
During my displacement, which began in 2015 from Taiz to the village and then to Sanaa, I found myself without an identity, as the war authorities in Sanaa and Aden refused to acknowledge that I was displaced, or even affected by the war in the slightest degree.
My name was not known in the records of displacement or even aid, which became assassinated by the war authorities, who subjugated humanitarian work to the loyalists and those who wanted it, to the point that those in charge of relief from the two authorities became wealthy wholesalers and construction contractors.
Eight times, I was asked for identity documents to register my name in the records of displaced people by those in charge of displacement and relief affiliated with the war authorities in Sanaa and Aden, the last of which was two months ago, in full and complete.
Despite my despair that in the eyes of my authority I had become a war without an identity, I gave my caller two months ago all the documents he wanted, with my certainty that nothing of what he promised would be fulfilled, but I promised him that I would add him to the list of liars and plunderers of aid.
I do not know why identity documents are taken from many people and they cannot find their names in the displacement or relief records. Perhaps we use these documents to plunder the displacement and relief allocations, and perhaps for other goals, the nature of which I do not know.
What made me strange was the request for my documents two months ago, and the caller’s confirmation – which I concealed for God’s sake – that he had registered my name in the records of the displaced, even though relief operations had been reduced to minimal levels.
My case is one of thousands and perhaps tens of thousands of cases that reveal the extent of the horrific corruption in humanitarian work in this country whose land has been torn by war and whose people have been impoverished by collection authorities. The corruption of humanitarian work in Yemen is the result of a process of collusion between international organizations concerned with relief and the war authorities inside, at the expense of the Yemeni people, who have become deserving of relief, with the exception of corruption mongers and war merchants.
One evening in the year 2021, a Jordanian number called me. The caller told me that she was from the World Food Programme. She asked me about the components of the food basket that I was receiving. I expressed my surprise at the question and replied that I had not received anything. She promised me that she would investigate the matter and would call me back. Three years had passed and I I am still waiting for the call, and I am still waiting for the latest liar to call. Perhaps he will call not to inform me that I have obtained a displaced person’s identity, but rather to apologize for not adding me to the lists of displaced people, so that I can avoid writing about him later as one of the relief thieves or those used by the relief thieves to steal food from Hungry mouths.
The truth is that I am still confused about the purpose of requesting our identity documents, and then we do not find our names on the displacement or relief lists, and how did the Food Program know my phone number even though I was not included in the relief lists..?!
The rest of the talk contains precise details.