Yemen: UN envoy accused of working to legitimise ‘Houthi coup’

The Undersecretary of Yemen’s Information Ministry accused UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths on Sunday of working to legitimise the “Houthi coup” in the country, Russia Today has reported.

“The UN envoy is trying to promote a distorted peace and seeks to deflect the UN role aimed at implementing Security Council resolutions,” said Fayyad Al-Nu’man. He added that Griffiths has been unable, for more than two years, to extract from the Houthis even one recognition of his mission which is to implement international decisions. “The only success that Griffiths has achieved is that he seeks with all his powers to legitimise a terrorist group’s coup against a UN member state.”

The Yemeni official said the envoy’s deviation from his role to find real mechanisms to implement UN resolutions on Yemen places question marks on his suspicious course in providing free services to the Houthis. This, said Al-Nu’man, allows them to continue committing war crimes against the Yemenis. He stressed that the government and the Arab coalition must deal carefully with the envoy’s proposals.

Griffiths was appointed as UN special envoy to Yemen In early 2018. However, over the past two years he has not been able to make any real progress towards ending the six-year war.

READ: Yemen minister slams UN envoy’s discontent over US designation of Houthis as terror group