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Yemen’s Hadi will not engage the Houthis

January 9, 2018 at 1:39 pm

Yemeni Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi [YouTube]

Yemen’s foreign minister has outlined the conditions under which his government will hold talks with the Houthis, Al-Yemen Today reported.

In a meeting US Deputy Chief of Mission in Yemen, Ana Escrogima, today, Abdul Malik Al-Makhlafi said the current condition the people of Yemen live under cannot be tolerated or accepted.

He added that talks with the Houthis will only occur if the crimes against the Yemeni people and politicians halt, prisoners are released, the Houthis stop firing missiles and attacking cities and permit humanitarian access to Yemenis.

The internationally recognised government led by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is reaching out to political forces in Yemen to join an alliance with the Saudi-led coalition to counter the Houthis in the strategic Red Sea port of Hudaydah and the capital Sana’a.

But Saleh Al-Samad, a Houthi political figure, warned today that the group would disrupt shipping routes in the Red Sea if the Yemeni army continues its march along the west coast and if the UN failed to propose a political solution.

“If the political solution reaches a dead end and the escalation of aggression continues towards Hudaydah, there are options that will be used in the way of no return, including the cutting off of international shipping routes in the Red Sea,” Al-Samad said.

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“We want to return to the negotiating table,” he continued.

Off the back of this announcement, the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes today in the Hudaydah governorate and executed more than 11 strikes in the Harad and Midi districts in the Hajjah governorate.

The new Yemen alliance to fight the Houthis includes forces backed by the United Arab Emirates, the Southern Transitional Council and the Tihama tribe based on the west coast. The district of Khokha has already been captured, as the forces aim to retake Hudaydah.

Amid conflict since 2014, Yemen endures a dire humanitarian crisis which has seen nearly one million cases of cholera and some 500 cases of diphtheria according to the World Health Organisation.

The Saudi-led coalition was invited by Hadi to neutralise territorial threats by the Houthi group in Sana’a in March 2015.

Last year, the UN warned the Saudi-led coalition against attacking the port of Hudaydah as it’s a vital life line for aid shipments to Yemen.