Yemen’s Foreign Minister, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, has confirmed to the US ambassador to the country, Steven Fagin, the launch of an initiative to declare the Huthi rebel movement a terrorist organization for the first time since it began eight years ago. years of war in the country.
Countries allied to Yemen in the conflict, such as the United Arab Emirates, have pressured the US to reinstate the Houthis to its own list of terrorist groups, from which they were removed last year in an attempt to alleviate the enormous crisis generated in the country. , one of the poorest in the world, due to the war between the government and the insurgents.
Mubarak accused the Houthis of “brainwashing society” and imposing a “racist identity” instead of the national one, according to statements collected by the official Yemeni news agency, SABA.
Last October, Yemen’s National Defense Council, headed by the Chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al Alimi, announced the designation of the Houthis as a terrorist group “in accordance with international and regional treaties ratified by the Republic of Yemen” following an insurgent attack on an oil port in Hadramut.
The US ambassador, for his part, reiterated his country’s condemnation of the Houthi attacks against Yemen’s oil facilities and highlighted US support for Yemen’s security, stability and unity.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken revoked the Houthi movement’s designation as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (OTF) in February in view of “the appalling humanitarian situation in Yemen.”
“We have heard warnings from the United Nations, humanitarian groups and members of Congress, among others, who have warned us that these kinds of designations could have a devastating impact on Yemenis’ access to basic goods like food and fuel,” he said. Blinken at the time.
On the other hand, this Sunday also announced the signing of an agreement between the Yemeni authorities and the Arab Monetary Fund to support a comprehensive program of economic, financial and monetary reform for Yemen, worth 1,000 million euros.
The agreement was signed by Finance Minister Salem bin Breik, the Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen Ahmed Ghaleb Al Maabqi, and the Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund, Abdul-rraman al-Hamidi, in the presence of the minister Saudi Finance Minister Mohamed Al Yadan.
The program aims to establish “the foundations of economic, financial and monetary stability in Yemen, strengthen public finances and the external position of the state, as well as rebuild its institutions and improve its governance and transparency.”
The war in Yemen pits the internationally recognized government, now represented by the Presidential Leadership Council and supported by the aforementioned international coalition, against the Houthis, backed by Iran. The Houthis control the capital, Sana’a, and parts of the north and west of the country.
The United Nations special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, is trying to bring the parties closer together to relaunch the peace process, after the truce agreed in April on the occasion of the start of Ramadan and extended several times expired in October. subsequently.
