Yemen: leader of Al-Islah Party warns of ‘mined peace’

The leader of Yemen’s Al-Islah Party, Muhammad Al-Yadoumi, warned on Tuesday of “a mined peace with the Houthi group,” and called for “an end to the political stagnation” in the areas controlled by the internationally-recognised government in the south and east of the country. Al-Yadoumi made his comments in a speech on the 33rd anniversary of the founding of the Islamist party.

He confirmed the party’s firm conviction that the connection of the Republic of Yemen with its Gulf neighbours and regional surroundings is inevitable due to the facts of geography and history, the ties of religion and common interests, and the requirements of good neighbourliness.

“Yemen will not be safe and stable except within the framework of its Arab and Islamic surroundings in general, and the Gulf in particular, and with a strong neighbourly relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council countries,” said Al-Yadoumi. “Al-Islah, along with all free people of Yemen, was on the front line of defending the republic, its noble goals and its great gains, and it will remain committed to the national constants for which it sacrificed men and property in support of the national battle to restore the state.”

According to Al-Islah’s leader, the fight to restore the state and end the coup has been faced by a number of obstacles in recent times, which have exacerbated human suffering and helped prolong Iran’s “interference” in Yemen, harming the region and the world. He explained that the discrepancies and ruminations of the past between the political forces are still a contributing factor in prolonging the Houthi militia’s control over part of the country.

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“The government should develop a comprehensive strategy to combat terrorism, aimed at drying out its roots and its intellectual, economic and security causes, in cooperation with regional and international partners,” he insisted.

Expressing Al-Islah Party’s condemnation of terrorist operations, based on its position rejecting terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, he noted that Yemen has paid a heavy price in its security, stability, sovereignty and the lives of its citizens because of this issue. “Our party officials and members were at the forefront of those targeted in terrorist assassinations, for which the investigations are ongoing, and the government must arrest all those involved in these crimes and bring them to justice.”

He claimed that Houthi “inflexibility” had led the group to waste opportunities for peace to the extent that it “does not believe” in the option of peace. “Nothing will deter the Houthis other than a legitimate action to save citizens from slavery and persecution practiced by the militia against them in areas under its control.”

He concluded that, “The Houthi militia still has an opportunity, which may not remain indefinitely, to move towards peace, which we believe in as a humanitarian and political value to achieve a sustainable peace based on the three references: the outcomes of the National Dialogue Conference, the Gulf Initiative, and International Resolution (2216).”