In addition to the promotion of the travel ban by Mr. Kim and Mr. Malinowski, the Foreign Affairs Committee unanimously voted to require U.S. intelligence officials to release a report on the role played by the Crown Prince’s commercial entities – such as shell companies or airlines – in Khashoggi’s assassination. The amendment, led by Representative Ilhan Omar, a Democrat from Minnesota, introduces a process to eventually impose sanctions on such organizations under the Global Magnitsky Act.
Lawmakers have also become increasingly concerned about the humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as the country faces increasing famine that aid groups warn is likely to increase, following an air and sea blockade by the Saudi-led coalition in the Houthi-controlled area. imports have limited. of vital goods.
As part of the ceasefire talks, Saudi officials last month offered to reopen the airport in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital, and allow fuel and food to flow through a major Yemeni port, but a Houthi spokesman said. that they would not agree to discuss a ceasefire until Saudi Arabia first lifted its blockade.
The members of the Foreign Affairs Committee were shaken after a closed briefing they received late last month from David Beasley, the executive director of the United Nations World Food Program and a former Republican governor. Mr. Beasley, who had just returned from a trip to Yemen, painted a serious situation of mass famine and hospitals without fuel, and according to lawmakers, the urgency of lifting the blockade “immediately”, he said, according to two officials who attended. it, impressed.
“Ending U.S. support for offensive operations in Saudi-led areas in Yemen alone is not enough if we allow the blockade to continue,” said Representative Debbie Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan who led the letter to the Biden government. “This blockade is causing great suffering and hunger among Yemeni children and families, and it must now be lifted.”
However, according to Peter Salisbury, a Yemeni analyst at the International Crisis Group, it could be an uphill battle to pressure the administration to put it under pressure, who said in an interview that controlling the ports’ very important pieces of leverage was’. the negotiations from the Saudi perspective. ”
“If you look at it from an administrative perspective, they are trying to deal with these things through existing negotiation mechanisms,” he said. Salisbury said. “There is no easy way to end the war in Yemen and in many other cases.”