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Shia Houthi rebels set an ultimatum yesterday for Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to form a government in 10 days or face “other options”, raising the tension in a political standoff that has crippled the country. |
Once a religious movement in the north seeking greater autonomy, the Houthis have in recent months become Yemen’s powerbrokers and sent their militiamen into the west and centre of the country, far beyond their traditional redoubts.
They captured the capital Sanaa on September 21, following weeks of anti-government unrest.
A power-sharing accord was signed last month aimed at bringing the Houthis into government. When a new administration is nominated, the Houthis are meant to withdraw their forces from the city.
Yesterday, Houthi leaders delivered a statement after a meeting of some 2,000 supporters in Sanaa. It threatened unspecified “other options” unless Hadi met the deadline.
“The president has 10 days as a final chance to form the government. Otherwise, our next meeting will be at the headquarters of decision-making,” said tribesman Daifallah Rassam, without elaborating.
Another Houthi supporter, officer Nagib al-Mansouri, called for the formation of a “salvation military council”.
Participants at the meeting denounced Hadi’s call last Sunday for the Houthis to “immediately pull out their armed men from all the cities and provinces (they seized) including Sanaa”.
The president accused the rebels of “trying to take over the role of the state under the pretext of fighting Al Qaeda in a bid to conquer more provinces”.
On Wednesday, the rebels seized the central city of Radmah on a road linking Sanaa with the main southern city of Aden.
In addition to hardening their stance against Hadi, the rebels are also defying parliament which on Thursday called for the army and police to be deployed in Sanaa and other rebel-controlled areas to re-establish security.
The UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, called for a meeting later yesterday with political parties, soon after the Houthi gathering issued its statement setting the deadline for Hadi.
New Prime Minister Khaled Bahah, Yemen’s ambassador to the United Nations, flew home last month to take up the post as part of the agreement aimed at stabilising the country.
The United States and other Western and Gulf countries are worried that instability in Yemen could strengthen Al Qaeda and have supported a political transition since 2012 led by Hadi.
Yesterday’s statement by the Houthis also called for the establishment of “revolutionary committees” across the country and a joint northern-southern committee to find “a just resolution to the southern cause”.
A southern secessionist movement and Al Qaeda onslaught on security forces had already stretched the resources of the country of 25mn before the latest crisis.
Suspected Al Qaeda gunmen killed a police officer and a soldier in two separate attacks in the south, security sources said yesterday.
“Two Al Qaeda gunmen on a motorcycle shot and killed commander Fadl al-Majidi on Thursday night in downtown Huta,” capital of Lahij province, a security source said.
The assailants were able to flee the scene.
Further south in Mahfad, a town in Abyan province, gunmen fatally wounded a soldier in his barracks on Thursday night, said another security source who blamed Al Qaeda.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, a merger of the militant network’s Yemeni and Saudi branches, is seen by the United States as Al Qaeda’s deadliest offshoot.