Yemen will launch a campaign to collect heavy and medium weapons from local markets through a buy-back programme in a bid to neutralize Shiite rebels battling army troops in the north of the country, a press report said on Thursday. The plan was approved by the National Defence Council at a session presided over by President Ali Abdullah Saleh earlier this week, the defence ministry's weekly newspaper, 26 September, said. Under the plan, an ad hoc committee would first conduct a survey to locate arms markets where the weapons were being sold. The weapons would then be purchased using state funding, the paper said.
The move stems from ongoing fighting between government forces and Shiite rebels in the northern province of Saada, in which rebels reportedly use heavy weapons. Authorities have accused the rebels, lead by local Shiite leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, of trying to topple the republican regime and establish an Islamic state, saying that 'foreign parties' have been supporting them. Local media recently quoted government officials accusing Iran and Libya of financing the rebels. Both states have denied this, however.
Officials have said the rebel weaponry originated from the biggest arms market, Souq al-Talh, located only 30 kilometres from the provincial city of Saada, 240 kilometres from the capital Sana'a. It is estimated that 12 arms markets and about 300 light weapon shops are spread across the impoverished Arab country situated on the south-western tip of the Arabian peninsula. |