Yemen’s Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak has confirmed to U.S. Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin the launching of an initiative to declare the Huthi rebel movement a terrorist organization for the first time since the beginning of the war in the country eight years ago.
Yemen’s allies in the conflict, such as the United Arab Emirates, have pressed the US to reinstate the Huthis on its own list of terrorist groups, from which they were removed last year in an attempt to alleviate the huge crisis generated in the country, one of the poorest in the world, by the war between the government and the insurgents.
Mubarak accused the Huthis of «brainwashing society» and imposing a «racist identity» instead of a national one, according to statements reported by the official Yemeni news agency, SABA.
Last October, Yemen’s National Defense Council, headed by Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad Al Alimi, announced the designation of the Huthis 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 U.S. ambassador, for his part, reiterated his country’s condemnation of the Huthi attacks on Yemen’s oil facilities and stressed U.S. support for Yemen’s security, stability and unity.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in February revoked the designation of the Huthi movement as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) in view of «the dire humanitarian situation in Yemen.»
«We have heeded the warnings of 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 commodities such as food and fuel,» Blinken said at the time.
On the other hand, the signing of an agreement between Yemeni authorities and the Arab Monetary Fund to support a comprehensive economic, financial and monetary reform program for Yemen, worth 1 billion euros, was also announced on Sunday.
The agreement was signed by Minister of Finance Salem bin Breik, Governor of the Central Bank of Yemen Ahmed Ghaleb Al Maabqi, and Director General and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Arab Monetary Fund Abdulrraman al Hamidi, in the presence of Saudi Minister of Finance Mohamed Al Yadan.
The program aims to establish «the foundations of economic, financial and monetary stability in Yemen, strengthen the State’s public finances and external position, 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 Huthis, backed by Iran. The Huthis control the capital, Sana’a, and areas in 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 expiration in October of the truce agreed in April to mark the beginning of the month of Ramadan and subsequently extended on several occasions.
