Yemeni officials last spring could not afford to pay $8,000 to cover a shipping fee for US taxpayer-funded military aid that has languished in storage in Virginia for more than half a decade.
Defense Department officials had offered to cover the fee “using funds previously earmarked for Yemen” if the Yemenis fronted the money for it, but they did not pay by the May 1st deadline.
“The embassy of Yemen indicated they did not have the funds available to pay due to the ongoing crisis in their country,” a report published on Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office noted. “The freight forwarder reported that it had moved the equipment to another warehouse in July 2015.”
The equipment has remained in the US since 2007, when it was purchased, because Yemeni officials have squabbled with freight companies and because the Red Sea nation has played host to instability and massive political crises.
Initially financed with federal Foreign Military Financing grants, the Yemeni government “chose to use contracted commercial freight forwarders” to ship the equipment home before switching that provider in 2008. That year, the Yemeni government “did not pay or made late payments to this freight forwarder,” and it remained in arrears until 2010.
Violence in Yemen then canceled the shipment process. “The Department of Defense (DOD) convinced the freight forwarder to waive storage fees accumulated during this period,” GAO noted.
In 2012, when the situation allowed for shipping to resume, the Yemeni government once again found itself at odds with its freight forwarder, and “began paying the US military to ship newly funded FMF equipment.”
The goods, which “remain in a private warehouse in Virginia,” include hazardous materials.
“For example, the parcels include hazardous cargo that requires special disposal and low-grade explosives for airplane ejection seats that require special storage considerations,” GAO said. “In addition, medical supplies have expired and batteries have corroded.”
Between 2007 and 2014, $108 million in Foreign Military Financing grants have been allocated to Yemen for counterterrorism initiatives. $48 million of that sum has already been committed by the Department of State.
Yemen is currently gripped by a civil war. The internationally-recognized government and a coalition led by Saudi Arabia is fighting Houthi rebels aligned with Iran and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh was ousted in 2012.
Government-Saudi forces on Wednesday recaptured the airport in Aden, and other parts of the city.
Read the full GAO report here.
