Dubai: The GCC reitterated its support for the constitutional legitimacy of Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi Thursday during a meeting in Riyadh. Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid Al Attiyah said that Al Houthis who took control Sana’a were welcome to attend crisis talks hosted by Riyadh. There has been no set date for the meeting.
GCC Secretary General Abdul Latif Al Zayani confirmed that “the invitation was addressed to all”.
At the joint news conference with Al Attiyah, Al Zayani underlined that anyone joining the negotiations must adhere to Hadi’s conditions.
These include rejecting “the coup d’etat” by Al Houthis, returning seized military equipment and allowing the state “to recover its authority over all territory,” Hadi said in a letter to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
The talks would aim for a resumption of the political process begun after the departure of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in early 2012 after a bloody year-long popular uprising.
The process, which stalled after Al Houthis overran Sana’a in September, called for turning the republic into a federation of six regions. Al Houthis have rejected that idea, saying it would divide the country into rich and poor areas.
They have instead favoured the “national dialogue” in the capital Sana’a under the supervision of UN envoy Jamal Bin Omar.
The planned talks in Riyadh would be a separate initiative, Al Zayani said.
Saleh’s General People’s Congress party has also warned that it will boycott talks held outside Sana’a. Saleh is widely accused of backing Al Houthis.
Separatists from southern Yemen have taken an opposite point of view. They suspended their participation in the UN-sponsored discussions until they are moved abroad.
The Gulf states are deeply suspicious of Al Houthis, fearing they will take Yemen into the orbit of Iran.
The GCC meeting came as thousands of Al Houthis held military exercises near Yemen’s border with Saudi Arabia. The drill in Al Buqa area, which lies in the Al Houthis’ home province of Saada, involves using different kinds of weaponry, including heavy weapons acquired from the Yemeni army, the sources said.
Meanwhile, the World Bank suspended its operations in Yemen yesterday, the latest in a stream of international organizations, Western and Arab embassies to shut down their offices in the violence-wracked country’s capital, Sana’a.
The World Bank said the said the decision followed a thorough review that concluded the situation in Yemen, the Arab had “deteriorated to the degree that the Bank was unable to exercise effective management over its projects.”
