Western ambassadors warned the warring parties in Yemen this week of the
possible consequences of continued conflict in the country, writes Nasser
Arrabyee in Sanaa
Friday,18 July, 2014
The US and UK ambassadors to Yemen handed a statement by a group of ten
ambassadors on the country's warring groups to Yemeni President Abdu Rabu
Mansour Hadi earlier this week, spelling out concerns about the conflict in
the country between the rival Shia Houthis and the Sunni Yemen Muslim
Brotherhood.
The Houthis are now seeking to control four provinces in the north and
north-east of the country - Saada, Hajja, Jawf and Amran. After months of
battle with Brotherhood tribesmen and the Al-Islah Party, the Houthis last
week captured Amran after storming the city and killing or arresting rival
commanders. Amran is only 50 km north of the capital Sanaa, and fighting is
continuing in Arhab even closer to Sanaa.
Brotherhood media and politicians said the Houthis would not have captured
Amran if Hadi and his minister of defence had helped the slain commander
Hamid Kushaibi, commander of the city's Brigade 310. Kushaibi is loyal to
the Brotherhood and military commander Ali Muhsen more than he is to Hadi
and the minister of defence.
Although fighter jets were sent to bomb Houthi fighters who have had the
upper hand in the battles, the conflict has been mostly between the Houthis
and Al-Islah, with Brigade 310 and its commander helping Al-Islah fighters.
This brigade has long been under the command of Ali Muhsen, a Brotherhood
leader, not under that of the minister of defence who is in conflict with
the Brotherhood.
After a visit to Saudi Arabia, which has promised to help Yemen with $2
billion for urgent needs, Hadi sacked two top military commanders this week
in a bid to reduce the influence of the Brotherhood inside the army and that
of Ali Muhsen.
Observers say that after Hadi's changes in the army command Muhsen's
position has been weakened, helping Hadi and the minister of defence to work
without external interference. The Brotherhood has been trying to portray
the conflict as one between the army and the Houthis and not between it and
the Houthis.
Statements from the US, UK, UN, EU and the G10 ambassadors say the conflict
is between the Houthis and armed groups, with no foreign source seeing it as
between the army and the Houthis. Yemeni President Hadi in a speech this
week to army commanders at the Defence Academy warned both groups.
"The state will do all it can to disarm the groups," Hadi said in a clear
reference to the Houthis and Al-Islah groups, who possess heavy and
medium-sized weapons plundered from the army during the conflict. "Those who
think they can win by weapons and the exclusion of others are mistaken,"
Hadi said.
"The Group of Ten Ambassadors condemns the violence that has occurred in
Amran and surrounding areas in the north including the taking of the 310th
Brigade with all its equipment and the burning of the compound. The Group
calls on all parties to cease the armed conflict that has claimed and
continues to claim Yemeni lives," said the statement of the G10 ambassadors.
"The Houthi militias affiliated with political parties, and all armed groups
and parties involved in the violence must stop the fighting, respect all
cease-fire agreements they all have committed to, especially that of June
22, withdraw from Amran, and turn over weapons to authorities loyal to the
national government," the Group said.
"The Group of Ten Ambassadors warns that continued violence will have grave
consequences for the progress of Yemen's transition. Those who have
continued to resort to the use of arms and to violence in the face of clear
statements from the international community and in defiance of the best
interests of the Yemeni people will be held accountable for their actions."
"The Group of Ten Ambassadors reiterates that intimidation by armed groups
acting unlawfully and in disregard of the interests of the people will not
be tolerated. It reaffirms its support for the Panel of Experts appointed
under UN Security Council Resolution 2140 and warns all belligerents -
including actors who have provided support to armed groups - that their
actions have threatened the peace and stability of Yemen."
"The Group of Ten monitors the armed confrontation in Arhab with deep
concern and demands that the current turmoil should not extend to other
parts of the country, including Sanaa, and urges the immediate cessation of
all the violence."
Yemeni political parties allied with the Al-Islah Brotherhood Party, like
the Socialist and Nasserist Parties, also described the conflict in Amran as
a conflict between Al-Islah and the Houthis, not between the Houthis and the
army.
The Al-Islah Brotherhood Party also wanted its allies to condemn the Houthis
for the conflict, but this did not happen, disappointing Al-Islah in its
nominal allies.
Zayed Al-Shami, chair of the parliamentary bloc of Al-Islah, described the
Party's allies from other parties as "traitors" for not siding with it
against the Houthis, "who are destroying our schools and mosques," he said.
Al-Shami said the General People's Congress Party of former president Ali
Abdullah Saleh understood the danger of the conflict "more than any other
party." He called on it "to reconsider its relation with ex-president
Saleh."
The statements created controversy about the historic relations between
Saleh and Al-Islah, which consists largely of tribal and religious leaders.
The leader of the Houthi fighters said he was "not against the state" or
wanting to see an alternative to the state in Amran and called on the local
government to resume functioning after the Houthis had taken control of the
city.
Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Salam said in a statement that the problem
was with the Brotherhood, which had excluded the Houthis from influence,
calling them "kafirs" (unbelievers).