GCC slams Yemeni Houthis’ government  

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the Arab League Council rejected and condemned on Tuesday the declaration by Yemen’s Houthis and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh of the so-called National Salvation Government.

The GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al-Zayani stressed that the GCC member states categorically reject Houthi’s recently announced government on the basis that President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi’s government is the legitimate one constitutionally and legally. He added that Hadi’s government is recognised by the Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the United Nations.

Al-Zayani pointed out that the new step by Houthis and Saleh shows that they are not serious about political negotiations to stop war in Yemen and to revive political talks in line with the UN roadmap, Gulf Initiative, Output of National Dialogue and UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

The UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Tuesday that the formation of a new government by Yemen’s armed Houthi movement and its political allies will hinder peace efforts in the country, adding that it has been seenas a blow to the UN-backed efforts to end 20 months of war in Yemen.

“The announcement by (the Houthi) Ansar Allah and the General People’s Congress on the formation of a new government in Sana’a represents a new and concerning obstacle to the peace process and does not serve the interests of the people of Yemen in these difficult times”, he explained.