Protesters chant slogans against the Houthi rebels during a rally in Sanaa yesterday.
Agencies/Dubai
Saudi Arabia has said “unprecedented challenges” facing Yemen since Shia rebels took over the capital could threaten international security, and called for swift action to deal with instability in its southern neighbour.
The kingdom, which shares a long border with Yemen, welcomed an agreement signed in Sanaa on September 21 to form a new government incorporating the Houthi rebels and some Yemeni southern separatist forces.
But the kingdom fears the accord could benefit Iran, which it sees as an ally of the Houthis, and might also bolster the Islamist militant Al Qaeda group.
It is not clear whether the power-sharing deal will satisfy the Houthis’ demands, or whether it will instead embolden them to seek further powers. Under a security annexe to the accord, they had been expected to leave Sanaa in return for their inclusion in the new government. To date they remain in place.
In some of his strongest language about Yemen to date, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal told the UN General Assembly that hopes for an end to the crisis had been wrecked by what he suggested was the Houthis’ failure to honour the deal.
“The lack of implementation of the security annexe of the agreement and the lack of implementation of the agreement itself in the required manner by the Houthi group has dashed these hopes,” he said in a speech circulated by the Saudi mission at the United Nations in New York.
“Yemen faces accelerating and extremely dangerous conditions that require us all to look and propose the necessary solutions to confront these unprecedented challenges,” Prince Saud said.
Prince Saud said Yemen’s violence “will no doubt extend to threaten stability and security on the regional and international arena that could prove difficult to put down regardless of the resources and efforts that may be exerted”.
Saudi Arabia in 2011 played a key role to push forward a Gulf power transfer deal that saw long-serving president Ali Abdullah Saleh step down after months of protests in 2011 in favour of his deputy.
Yemen has since faced multiple challenges, including regular attacks by Al Qaeda and its affiliate, Ansar al-Shariah, as well as protests by southern separatists demanding secession from the country.
The Houthis say their move into Sanaa was necessitated by them being left out of a government formed after the 2011 protests that they had participated in.
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Sanaa yesterday to demand the withdrawal of the rebels.
Protesters from the February 11 Revolution movement marched along the main Zubairi road in Sanaa chanting slogans against the rebels who remain in control of most of the city.
“We don’t want Houthis anymore,” shouted the demonstrators, whose movement was behind the 2011 uprising which ousted former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
Houthi rebels are heavily deployed across Sanaa but there were no reports of confrontations between the insurgents and demonstrators.
The demonstrators put out a statement demanding the “withdrawal of all armed militias from the capital and the return of security forces”.
The rebels swept down from their stronghold in the rugged northwestern mountains last month, demanding economic and political reforms.
Last week, they seized key state installations without resistance, most of them in northern Sanaa, after clashes on the city’s outskirts with Islamists killed more than 270 people.
Also known as Ansarullah, the Shia rebels have battled the government for years, complaining of marginalisation.
Yemeni authorities accuse Iran of backing the rebels, who also appear influenced by Lebanon’s powerful Tehran-backed Shia militia Hezbollah.
