Sana’a: Yemen’s president on Sunday demanded the withdrawal of Al Houthi tribesmen from a captured provincial city, in a stand-off that threatens to intensify turmoil in the Arab country.
Al Houthis, named after their tribal leader, had handed back an army camp to the Yemeni government on Saturday to try to defuse tensions caused by their capture last week of Amran, some 50km north of the capital Sana’a.
But President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi signalled the government’s patience was running out.
“Everyone has to understand very well that there will be no negotiation over the exit of the Al Houthis with their weapons from Amran,” he was quoted as saying by state news agency SABA, in comments he made at a lecture at a military college.
The fall of Amran has drawn condemnation from the UN Security Council and a threat of military action by Hadi, who has ordered the army to raise its preparedness level to “carry out any tasks that may be assigned to it”.
The fighting has killed at least 200 people, displaced more than 35,000 and renewed fears for Yemen’s stability. The country is still trying to recover from a political crisis that started with mass protests in 2011 and forced Hadi’s predecessor to step down. It is also struggling with a southern secessionist movement and a local wing of Al Qaida.
“Unfortunately, some understood our wisdom and patience in dealing with the problem in Amran and other areas as a kind of weakness and foregoing of responsibility and tried to make use of our willingness to end the conflict in a peaceful manner in a cheap way,” Hadi said. “From now on, the state will not let this conflict continue.”
Al Houthis captured Amran last Tuesday after days of fighting against government soldiers and allied Sunni tribal fighters, in clashes that had threatened to turn into a sectarian conflict.
Hadi said Al Houthis and other armed groups must leave with their weapons and give up the arms they had seized. He demanded they also hand over bodies and release prisoners.
The fall of Amran came less than a week after the collapse of a ceasefire, for which both sides blamed each other. Al Houthis have said their fight was against rivals loyal to the Islamist Islah party, and that they have no intention of attacking Sana’a.
