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| Arabia | |
| Houthi rebels cry 'victory' as Hadi warns of civil war | |
| 2014-09-24 | |
| [ARABNEWS] President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi warned Tuesday of "civil war" in Sunni-majority Yemen and vowed to restore state authority as Iranian catspaws in apparent near-total control of Sanaa hailed their "victory." Yemen "is facing a conspiracy" and "the danger of slipping into civil war," Hadi said in a speech at the presidential palace, two days after Ansarullah rebels took all other key state institutions in the capital, overshadowing a UN-brokered peace deal. In a televised speech, rebel leader Abdelmalik Al-Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates. Its slogan is God is Great, Death to Americaâtm¢, Death to Israel, a curse on the Jews... hailed what he called the "victory" of his fighters. "We congratulate our people on the victory of their popular revolution that has established a new era based on cooperation," Houthi said. Hadi had earlier evoked the specter of foreign plots aimed at torpedoing progress in Yemen. "Internal and foreign forces (have) allied to... overthrow the Yemeni model" of power transition following an Arab Spring-inspired uprising, the president said. Yemen was the only Arab Spring country where an uprising led to a political settlement by which Hadi replaced former autocrat President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... Hundreds of rebels manned checkpoints on the airport road and other major thoroughfares on Tuesday while heavily armed patrols cruised the streets in four-wheel-drive vehicles, AFP correspondents reported. Insurgents alongside small detachments of military police guarded public offices the rebels entered on Sunday, including the main government building, parliament, army headquarters and the central bank. But Hadi insisted: "Sanaa will not fall." UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who mediated the accord aimed at ending deadly fighting between the rebels and Sunnis, said the rebels' taking of key institutions virtually without resistance seemed to signify the "collapse" of the security forces in Sanaa.
As Benomar spoke, the peace accord appeared to be holding after a week of festivities that the government said killed at least 200 people. The speed of the rebel advance reflected the fragility of Yemen's regime three years after the uprising. "You were shocked to learn that public and military institutions were handed over (to rebels), but be aware that the plot was already brewing," Hadi told Yemenis Tuesday. "There is no doubt that Saleh has facilitated Houthi expansion in and around the capital," April Longley Alley, a specialist on Yemen with the International Crisis Group, told AFP. "At the very least he has not discouraged his tribal and political supporters from supporting Houthi mobilization." However, nothing needs reforming like other people's bad habits... "the extent of his involvement is unclear," she told AFP. Under Sunday's deal, Hadi had three days to bring a rebel representative into government as an adviser and to name a neutral replacement for prime minister Mohammed Basindawa. | |
| Posted by:Fred |