The UN Security Council on Monday ratcheted up sanctions on Yemen’s rebel Houthi movement following a series of missile and drone strikes carried out against the UAE and Saudi Arabia this year.
Alterations to the sanctions programme were proposed by the UAE. The new sanctions expand a UN arms embargo against several Houthi leaders to include the whole group, which is fighting pro-government forces and a Saudi Arabia-led military coalition.
Eleven council members voted for the resolution, while four members — Norway, Mexico, Ireland and Brazil — abstained. Some complained about the use of the term “terrorist” in the new document.
The UAE welcomed the sanctions on Yemen and the labelling of Houthi militias as a “terrorist group” for the first time.
The UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned Houthi attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE and demanded the group cease hostilities immediately.
“The purpose of this resolution is to limit the capacity of Houthis and to limit the escalation of war in Yemen,” UAE ambassador Lana Nusseibeh told the 15-nation body after the vote.
“It also calls to put an end to attacks on international navigational waters and on vessels and to put an end to the suffering of civilians in Yemen and in the region.”
Ms Nusseibeh reiterated the UAE’s demands for the Houthi militias “to cease their terrorist acts and coastal attacks and to return to the negotiating table to begin a serious political process”.
Yemen has been mired in chaos since the Iran-aligned Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital Sanaa in late 2014.
A Saudi Arabia-led military coalition intervened the following year to restore the government.
The war has claimed more than 370,000 lives, directly and indirectly, the UN says, and caused widespread suffering, with four-fifths of Yemen’s 30 million people needing aid.
