GCC demands return of state control in Yemen

At an emergency meeting in Jeddah, GCC states declared they would not 'stand idly' in face of foreign intervention in Yemen as violence there threatened the stability of the region.

RIYADH // The GCC has demanded the restoration of government authority in Yemen where Shiite rebels took control of the capital last week.

Fighters from the Shiite Houthi movement seized Sanaa on September 21 after overrunning an army brigade affiliated to the moderate Islamist Islah party, making them the power brokers in the country.

After an emergency meeting in Jeddah on Wednesday, interior ministers from Gulf countries said the instability in Yemen threatens regional security.

“The GCC states will not stand idly by in the face of factional foreign intervention as Yemen’s security and the security of the GCC states are one and the same,” the ministers said.

Yemeni authorities have accused Iran of backing the Houthi rebels.

“Yemeni and GCC security is indivisible,” the statement said, demanding the return of official buildings to state control and the return of all looted weapons, military equipment and money.

The rebels advanced from their stronghold in northwestern mountains to the capital Sanaa last month, then seized key state installations with little resistance.

Gulf ministers called the events “regretful” and expressed “their serious concern at the threats faced by the Yemeni government and its institutions”.

Under a United Nations-brokered peace deal signed the day the rebels took control of Sanaa, they are supposed to withdraw once a new neutral prime minister is named.

President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi has so far failed to appoint a new government chief. The deal also required Mr Hadi to name an adviser from within the rebel movement.

The GCC statement came after Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Prince Saud Al Faisal, warned this week that Yemen risks sliding towards further violence which could damage regional security.

Saudi Arabia views the Houthis, who hail from the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, as allies of Iran.

Also known as Ansarullah, the rebels have battled the government for years, complaining of marginalisation.

The violence has added to instability in Yemen since an uprising that led to the removal of President Ali Abdullah Saleh two years ago.

Al Qaeda’s Yemen wing, Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, which has also been waging an insurgency against the Yemeni government, called on militants to attack the Houthis.

“Do not leave a checkpoint for them that you do not strike, nor a headquarters that you do not bomb,” the group said in a statement posted online.

Witnesses said that since September 21, armed Houthi tribesmen have been patrolling the streets, operating checkpoints and controlling access to several central government buildings.

The Houthis acknowledge they are on good terms with Iran but insist they are not backed by Iran. Tehran denies interfering in Yemen.

Within a week of the takeover, Yemen freed at least three suspected Iranian Revolutionary Guard members, who had been held for months over alleged ties to the Houthis. Two suspected members of Lebanon's Hizbollah group, who had been held on suspicion of planning to provide military aid to the Houthis, were also released.

The authorities have provided no public explanation for the releases. But the move suggested the Shiite group was dictating terms in the capital.

* Agence France-Presse and Reuters