Al Mukalla: Thousands of people took to the streets in Yemen’s southern port city of Aden, Taiz, Marib, Al Mukalla and many other government-held cities yesterday in support of internationally-backed president Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and to reject the latest UN peace plan that calls for their leader’s resignation. In the city of Aden, the protesters, mainly south Yemen separatists, called upon Hadi not to bow down to the continuing diplomatic pressure to pass his powers to a new vice president.
Aimed at putting an end to almost two year-conflict between warning parties in Yemen, the UN envoy to Yemen Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad presented this week a peace plan, that would have Hadi turn into a figurehead president and hand over power to a new vice president.
Iran-backed Al Houthi militants, in exchange, would pull out of cities and agree to disarm. The protesters, including senior government officials in the city of Aden, said that they stand by Hadi and condemn the UN peace plan that “violates” GCC initiative, UN Security Council resolution 2216 and the outcomes of National Dialogue Conference.
Hadi came to power in early 2012 after massive Arab Spring protests ousted his predecessor Ali Abdullah Saleh. He was forced to decamp to the city of Aden after escaping Al Houthi-imposed house arrest last year.
In Riyadh, Hadi said on Wednesday that his government will keep extending its hand of peace if the rebel movement honours previous peace initiatives. At a meeting with US and UK envoys, Hadi said he urges the international community who has stood by his government since the beginning of the transitional period, to cast blame on Al Houthis and the ousted president for their attempts to destabilise the country.
Meanwhile, government officials in the port city of Al Mukalla told Gulf News yesterday that a suicide bomber driving a small van laden with explosives was killed when his car exploded before reaching military sites on the city’s eastern outskirts.
The officials said that the car exploded on the main road close to the headquarter of the 2nd Military Region and the governor’s temporary office in the city’s Khalef area. No one was hurt in the botched attack.
Meanwhile, details emerged over the proposed UN resolution on Yemen. The draft Security Council resolution, obtained on Wednesday by The Associated Press, demands all parties in Yemen immediately honour an April ceasefire and resume peace negotiations.
It also calls for transparent and timely investigations of alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law — and accountability for those responsible for violations and abuses.
Britain’s UN Ambassador Matthew Rycroft said on Tuesday he expects to circulate the draft to the council “in the coming days”.
Yemen has been in the midst of a civil war since September 2014 when Iran-backed Al Houthi rebels swept into the capital of Sana’a and overthrew Hadi’s government.
In March 2015, a Saudi-led coalition of Arab countries began a military campaign against Al Houthi forces, saying its mission served in part as a counterbalance to Iran’s influence with Al Houthis following its nuclear deal with world powers.
