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Official: UAE convinced Yemen’s Saleh to ally with Houthis

September 12, 2018 at 12:58 pm

Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi is received by Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, on 11 June 2018 [WAM]

A spokesman for the late Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh has revealed that the United Arab Emirates convinced him to ally with the Shia Houthi group.

“Everyone contributed to what Yemen has become today. The General People’s Congress [headed by Saleh]was a main contributor as well as Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Everyone has contributed to the Houthis’arrival in Sanaa,” Yasser Al-Yamani said in an interview with Russia’sSputniknews agency.

“We have to review the statements of former Yemeni defence minister, Mohammed Nasser,after he returnedfrom the UAE before the fall of Sanaa and Amran.He told the media that the Yemeni army is neutral. How could the army be neutral while the state is fighting the militias?” he asked.

READ: Yemen peace talks collapse in Geneva after Houthi no-show

“The truth is that the UAE has planned to loseAmran under the pretext of defeating the Yemeni Congregation for Reform” Al-Yamani said, adding:“We all opposed this alliance at the beginning including myself, but the problem is that the People’s Congress was deceived by this alliance under UN auspices.”

According to Al-Yamani, “the UAE has significantly contributed to the situation in Yemen. It convinced former president Ali Abdullah Saleh … to ally with the Houthis in order to overthrow the Muslim Brotherhood or Al-Islah. He fell for it and President [Abd Rabbuh Mansur] Hadi has also fallen for it.”