The Saudi ambassador to Yemen visited the southern port city of Aden on Monday to oversee the Kingdom's first shipment of a promised $60 million monthly fuel aid delivery.
Flanked by bodyguards and with military helicopters circling overhead, Mohammed Said Al Jaber toured the port where tankers were to deliver the fuel, before addressing local media at a press conference.
He described Monday’s delivery as an extension of ongoing Saudi aid to Yemen. Saudi Arabia can’t wait for Iranian-backed Houthi militias to accept a political settlement before commencing with development projects, he said, describing aid and development as a "priority for all Yemenis".
“The Saudi development and reconstruction programme for Yemen is a real example of the extent to which Saudi Arabia is serious about assisting Yemen to build a better future,” he told reporters.
In August, as rising living costs prompted protests in Aden, Ambassador Al Jaber announced that Saudi Arabia would start providing monthly petroleum products to the value of $60 million in order to fuel power stations and boost the riyal.
The stimulus package would “greatly contribute to improving the economic situation in Yemen and boost the Yemeni Riyal’s exchange rate against foreign currencies to improve the standard of living," he said at the time.
Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, has intervened in the civil war at the request of Yemen's internationally recognised government, which is currently headquartered in Aden.
They have also provided significant aid to the country, which aid organisations continue to warn is on the brink of famine.
Earlier this month, the UN’s humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock told the Security Council that 14 million people – half of Yemen’s population – needed aid to survive.
“There is a clear and present danger of an imminent and great big famine engulfing Yemen," he said. This famine would be “much bigger than anything any professional in this field has seen during their working lives."
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
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