Cairo: Yemeni President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi has vowed to end a coup by Iran-allied Al Houthi militia that has plunged the impoverished country into a devastating war.
“Greater Yemen is our goal. The federal project is our project. Ending the coup and restoration of the state are our cause,” Hadi said in an address marking the 52nd anniversary of Yemen’s Independence Day. “For this, we will make more efforts and work to unify ranks, whatever the cost,” he added, according to Yemen’s official news agency Saba.
In late 2014, Al Houthis toppled Hadi’s internationally recognised government and seized the capital Sana’a.
In 2015, an Arab alliance led by the UAE and Saudi Arabia, intervened in Yemen in response to a request from the Hadi government after Al Houthis advanced on the southern city of Aden, the country’s provisional capital.
Hadi, who is staying in Saudi Arabia, called peace a “strategic option” for his administration.
“War was a necessity imposed on us by its advocates. We will continue to stretch out the hand of peace in every opportunity and on every occasion,” he said.
The Yemeni leader added that this “fair, comprehensive and lasting peace” should be conducive to one Yemen, one administration and a unified army.
“With this in mind, I call on the Al Houthi militia and on anyone thinking that weapons can offer a solution to deal responsibly with agreements and give precedence to logic,” he added.
Hadi said his government is cooperating “in a spirit of responsibility” with UN envoy Martin Griffiths to make peace in Yemen. “We are seeking with brothers and friends in the international community to ease the suffering of our people by all available means,” he added.
Last December, the Yemeni government and Al Houthis reached a UN-brokered deal on a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida. The pact, signed in Sweden, has since faltered over Al Houthi intransigence.
Hodeida is strategically important because of its key port through which most Yemen’s imports and aid enter.
Last week, Griffiths cited in a briefing to the UN Security Council encouraging indications to end the conflict in Yemen.
