UNITED NATIONS: Yemen鈥檚 foreign minister blamed Iran and its support for Houthi Shiite rebels on Monday for causing the country鈥檚 civil war and said it can鈥檛 be part of the solution.
Abdulmalik Al-Mekhlafi said at a press conference that Iranian weapons are still being smuggled into Yemen.
萝莉视频鈥檚 UN ambassador, Abdallah Al-Mouallimi, whose country supports Yemen鈥檚 internationally recognized government, said Iran isn鈥檛 a neighbor or part of the Arabian Peninsula and he had a more direct message: 鈥淚ran should get the hell out of the area, period.鈥�
The Saudi and Yemeni officials spoke to reporters after a presentation to UN diplomats on the path to peace and humanitarian aid to Yemen.
Yemen, which is on the southern edge of the Arabian Peninsula, has been engulfed in civil war since September 2014, when the Houthis swept into the capital of Sanaa and overthrew President Abed-Rabbo Mansour Hadi鈥檚 internationally recognized government.
In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition began a campaign in support of Hadi鈥檚 government and against Houthi forces allied with ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Since then, the Iranian-backed Houthis have been dislodged from most of the south, but remain in control of Sanaa and much of the north.
The war in Yemen has killed over 10,000 civilians and displaced 3 million people. UN humanitarian chief Stephen O鈥橞rien said Friday that 17 million Yemenis don鈥檛 know where their next meal is coming from, nearly 7 million are facing the threat of famine and almost 16 million lack access to clean water and sanitation. The World Health Organization said last week that 2,000 people have been killed and an estimated 500,000 infected in a cholera outbreak.
Al-Mekhlafi said that 鈥渢he Yemeni government ... will not be an obstruction to peace.鈥� But he said the Houthis and Saleh 鈥渃annot monopolize power.鈥�
The two diplomats reiterated Yemeni and Saudi support for a proposal by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to reopen Sanaa airport for commercial flights and to hand over the port of Hodeida to a committee of 鈥渞espected Yemeni security and economic figures鈥� that would use the port revenues to pay civil servants.
The Houthis have not accepted the proposal, but Cheikh Ahmed said Friday he hopes their leaders will accept his invitation to meet in a third country to discuss the proposals.
The Saudi ambassador warned diplomats to beware of three 鈥渇allacies鈥� about Yemen.
First, Al-Mouallimi said, supporting a cessation of hostilities 鈥渁ctually means the de facto partition of Yemen and the consolidation of a reactionary movement that is tied with Iran in the north part of Yemen and a weak Yemeni state in the southern part of Yemen.鈥�
鈥淭his is no recipe for sustainable peace,鈥� he said, stressing that any cease-fire has to be linked to implementation of a 2015 UN Security Council resolution demanding that the Houthis withdraw from all areas they captured, hand over arms seized from military and security institutions, and stop all actions falling within the authority of the legitimate government.
Al-Mouallimi said the second fallacy 鈥渋s that we must all sit around the table and talk.鈥� He said there have been talks 鈥渆verywhere,鈥� including Geneva, Kuwait, Moscow and 萝莉视频. Yemen鈥檚 recognized government has shown willingness to move forward with a political settlement, Al-Mouallimi said, while the Houthis have rejected Cheikh Ahmed鈥檚 proposal and refused to meet him.
The third fallacy, he said, is that people often seem to think that 鈥渁 disastrous humanitarian situation, a catastrophic spread of cholera鈥� afflict all of Yemen. But 鈥渁ll of that is concentrated in one part of Yemen which is controlled by the Houthis,鈥� he said. Al-Mouallimi said the entire world, especially 萝莉视频, is ready to provide aid but he said the Houthis are unable or 鈥渟ometimes maybe unwilling鈥� to manage and distribute aid.
Looking ahead, Yemen鈥檚 foreign minister predicted that 鈥渋n the end,鈥� the parties will get to the place where they started 鈥� when the end of a national dialogue in January 2014 all political parties agreed on a road map for a political transition.
But unfortunately, to get there Yemenis will have 鈥減aid a high price for peace,鈥� Al-Mekhlafi said.