Aden // Yemen’s government on Thursday accused the Houthis of staging a “new coup” and throwing away a chance for peace after the rebels announced the setting up of a “supreme council” to run the country together with the party of their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The Iran-backed rebels and the General People’s Congress, whose representatives are taking part in peace talks in Kuwait, said on Thursday they would form a 10-member political council to “manage state affairs politically, militarily, economically, administratively, socially and in security”.
Foreign minister Abdulmalek Al Mikhlafi, who is leading the government delegation in the UN-mediated talks, said the rebels had “missed an opportunity for peace which the Yemeni people needed”.
“We call on the international community to condemn the new coup against the constitutional legitimacy and hold the Houthi-Saleh alliance responsible for foiling the talks,” he said on his Twitter account.
The UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said the rebels’ move contravened their commitment to the peace process and “represents a grave violation” of the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
The resolution calls for the rebels to withdraw from areas they have seized since overrunning the capital Sanaa in Septmber 2014, hand over their weapons and release prisoners.
The peace talks in Kuwait have failed to make progress since they began on April 21.
Yemen’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a Saudi-led coalition that includes the UAE, says that, as the legitimate head of state, Mr Hadi should preside over a transitional period in the country. The rebels have insisted on the formation of a unity government.
The civil service minister Abdul-Aziz Gubari said president Hadi was considering the government’s next steps and the international community had to “do its responsibility” in response.
He said the peace talks would end on Friday and the government’s representatives might leave Kuwait on Saturday. “We know that the rebels will not implement any decisions,” he tweeted.
More than 6,400 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi-led coalition intervened in March last year in support of Mr Hadi’s government. Another 2.8 million people have been displaced and more than 80 per cent of the population urgently needs humanitarian aid, according to UN figures.
foreign.desk@thenational.ae
* With reporting from Agence France-Presse
