Yemen talks in Saudi Arabia open to the Houthis, says GCC

The Shiite militamen have so far opposed any change in venue for UN-brokered talks which broke down after president Hadi escaped from house arrest last month, resuming power in the southern city of Aden.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal attends a Gulf Cooperation Council meeting in Riyadh on March 12, 2015. Faisal AlNasser/Reuters

RIYADH // Talks aimed at pulling Yemen out of crisis are open to the Houthi militia which seized power in Sanaa last month, Qatar’s foreign minister Khalid Al Attiyah said on Thursday.

The Houthi have so far opposed any change in venue for UN-brokered talks which broke down after Western-backed president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi escaped from house arrest in Sanaa last month and resumed power from second city Aden in the south.

With no agreement on a venue to continue dialogue inside Yemen, Mr Hadi proposed that talks move to neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

The six Gulf Cooperation Council members agreed to that request last Monday but have not set a date for the meeting.

“The invitation concerns the Houthis,” Mr Al Attiyah, whose country currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency, told reporters following a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers in the Saudi capital.

“It’s their business to accept or not.”

Dr Anwar bin Mohammed Gargash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, led the UAE delegation at the talks.

GCC Secretary General Abdullatif Al Zayani confirmed that “the invitation was addressed to all” protagonists in the crisis in Yemen, which is a front line in the war against Al Qaeda.

At the joint news conference with Mr Al Attiyah, Mr Al Zayani underlined that anyone joining the negotiations must adhere to Mr Hadi’s conditions.

These include rejecting “the coup d’etat” by the Houthis, returning seized military equipment and allowing the state “to recover its authority over all territory,” Mr Hadi said in a letter to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.

The talks came as thousands of Houthis held military exercises in the northern part of the country near the border with Saudi Arabia, local tribal and Houthi sources said on Thursday.

The drill in Al Buqa area, which lies in the Houthis’ home province of Saada, involves using different kinds of weaponry, including heavy weapons acquired from the Yemeni army, the sources said.

“There is a joint manoeuvre between the army and the Popular Committees,” Houthi commander Mohammad Al Bukheiti said, referring to the mainly Houthi forces which have fanned out across Yemen since September.

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 Houthis overran Sanaa in September, called for turning the republic into a federation of six regions. 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 Sanaa under the supervision of UN envoy Jamal Benomar.

The planned talks in Riyadh would be a separate initiative, Mr Al Zayani said.

Mr Saleh’s General People’s Congress party has also warned that it will boycott talks held outside Sanaa. Mr Saleh is widely accused of backing the 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 the Houthis, fearing they will take Yemen into the orbit of Shiite Iran.

On Thursday, Houthi militiamen killed two protesters when they opened fire on a rally in support of Mr Hadi, a medic and an activist said.

Thousands of people had joined the demonstration in the central city of Bayda, which the Houthi militiamen who control the capital seized last month, said organising committee member Fahd Al Tawil.

The Huthis fired live rounds to disperse them, said Mr Al Tawil.

A medic said “two people were killed and six others were wounded,” raising an earlier toll, after injured protester succumbed to his wounds.

Demonstrations in support of Mr Hadi have multiplied since he escaped from house arrest in the capital last month and resumed power from second city Aden.

They have been particularly widespread in confessionally mixed and mainly Sunni central provinces where opposition to the Shiite militia runs deep.

The Houthis control much of northern Yemen but Aden and adjacent southern provinces are largely in the hands of troops and paramilitaries loyal to Hadi.

* Agence France-Presse, Wam Reuters.