Al Mukalla: Yemen’s General People’s Congress, the party of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, said on Wednesday that it is committed to backing the UN Security Council resolution on Yemen and the outcomes of Muscat talks to end months of war in the country.
The announcement on the GPC website, almotamar.net, comes as UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad holds secret talks with the patry and Al Houthi representatives in neutral Oman.
Meanwhile, in comments he made on Twitter, UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said that Al Houthi political delegation in Tehran is looking for a way out from the current impasse. “Due to defeats suffered by Al Houthis, they are now looking to Iran to rescue them. This might be the delegation’s last visit abroad.
“What one should expect from the political delegation’s visit to Tehran and its interviews with Iranian news agencies is strong rhetoric in order to compensate for the defeats and retreats suffered by Al Houthis on the ground.
“The visit reaffirms the dimensions of Iran’s involvement in the Yemeni dossier, as well as the movement being subjected to sectarian diktats from abroad that are far from Yemen’s historical approach.”
He added: “Al Houthis are looking for a way out in Tehran. The truth is that these dubious relations are responsible for the rebellion that Yemen is currently suffering from. This visit is also the final sign of Al Houthis’ collapse.”
The GPC’s secretary general, Aref Zouka, has sent a letter to UN chief Ban Ki-moon stating the GPC is “committed to implementing the seven points set in coordination with the UN envoy” to end the conflict, it said.
Under the plan, the GPC would accept UN Security Council Resolution 2216 under an “implementation mechanism that would be agreed on by all parties” in Yemen, the party said.
Resolution 2216 calls for the withdrawal of rebel forces from territories they have captured and for them to lay down their arms.
The Al Houthi militia has also agreed in writing to the terms of a UN resolution calling for it to withdraw from Yemeni cities, the BBC reported.
In a letter to the UN, Al Houthi representatives pledged to adhere to a seven-point peace plan brokered by the UN during talks in Oman.
The Al Houthi representatives call the peace plan an “important and fundamental... step towards the resumption of the political process,” reported the BBC.
“We, from our side along with other parties, commit to these seven points as one unified bundle,” it says, adding: “We welcome the UN call for all sides to return to the table of dialogue.”
Zouka called in his letter for “ending the war and urged all parties to start negotiations to set in place an implementation mechanism for Resolution 2216 that would organise withdrawal from cities and disarmament of all parties.”
This must take place under UN supervision to prepare for a relaunch of the political process.
The move comes following a series of military successes by the Saudi-led coalition looking to restore the rule of the internationally-recognised government of Hadi, which was overthrown by Al Houthis. In recent months, the coalition has successfully recaptured strategically located territory, including the central province of Marib, east of Al Houthi-occupied Sana’a, Bab Al Mandab Strait, and the southern city of Aden, which had become the government’s temporary capital. Al Houthis have been beseiged in the capital Sana’a, which they occupied last September.
Ahmad Al Sufi, former president’s secretary and a senior member of Saleh’s party, told Gulf News that the party informed Russia about its acceptance to backing both the resolution and Muscat talks in a meeting with the Russian ambassador in Sana’a two weeks ago.
“We informed the international community that we would comply with the UN resolution and the seven terms of Muscat peace talks.”
Despite leaving power in late 2011, Saleh has been repeatedly accused by opponents and early this year by the UN expert panel of using Al Houthis to overthrow the incumbent president Abd Rabbo Masnour Hadi to make a comeback.
Al Sufi said that the party would join any talks in future on implementation of the resolution and Muscat talks, denying that the former president has any influence on the republican guard.
“The party can support the talks politically as it has no militias to pull them out of war zones. The former president is neither the chief commander of armed force nor the commander of republican guard.”
On October 3, Al Houthis militiamen who have controlled most of the densely populated north Yemen since September last year, sent a letter to the UN Security-General Ban Ki-Moon expressing their acceptance to implementing Oman talks that include a term that asks them to comply with UN resolution.
Referring to the terms of Muscat peace plan, Mohammad Abdul Salam, a spokesperson for the militia, said in the letter: “We urge the Secretary-General to back it and we and other parties commit to these seven points as one unified bundle which include a commitment to the UN Security Council 2216 resolution in accordance with its agreeable implementation mechanism.”
The letter did not touch upon the remaining six terms, but local and international media reports say that the terms include halting hostilities, embarking on comprehensive dialogue between warring parties, approving federal system, and pulling out combatant forces from cities and border with Saudi Arabia, as well as combating terrorism.
Hadi’s government did not comment on the militia’s new stand, but it has previously refused to engage in any talks with Al Houthis before they accept the UN resolution. Government officials in Aden contacted by Gulf News were not available to comment as their phones were switched off. Saudi Arabia led a coalition of allied countries to blunt Al Houthis incursions into south Yemen province and to install the government of president who was forces into seeking exile in Saudi Arabia.
