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Houthi-backed president meets with UN envoy to Yemen 

January 24, 2020 at 3:20 pm

Mahdi Al-Mashat, the president of the Supreme Political Council in Yemen, 29 November 2019 [Twitter]

Mahdi Al-Mashat, the president of the Supreme Political Council, met with the UN Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths. The council is an executive body formed of an alliance between the Houthi movement and the General People’s Congress political party.

The meeting, which took place yesterday in the capital Sanaa, involved discussions on the latest military escalations by the Saudi-led coalition in addition to its mercenary forces in the country.

Al-Mashat said: “If the Saudi aggression and its airstrikes on the Yemeni people continue, they will meet a strong response.” He also called on the UN to “play its role in putting pressure on the aggression countries” and to allow the public telecommunications sea cable to be restored. The cable, which was damaged earlier this month, had initially led to a loss of up to 80 per cent of internet access in the country.

READ: Houthi government meets with EU ambassadors 

New Yemen reported that the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) in the Houthi government blamed the Saudi-led coalition for causing the loss of access. The “countries of aggression prevented Yemen from connecting to other cables since 2017,” said the source.

Earlier in the week, Al-Mashat and other officials in the Sanaa-based government met with the EU, French and Dutch ambassadors to Yemen. Griffiths has previously met with leader of the Houthi movement, Sayyid Abdul Malik Al-Houthi.

Saudi-backed forces, loyal to exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have been fighting against the Houthi movement in the district of Nehm, some 60 kilometres north east of Sanaa, following calls to advance onto the capital to reclaim it. However, Al-Masdar Online reported that the armed forces have since retreated following counter-offensives by the Houthis.

READ: Yemen army chief calls to advance towards Sanaa