U.N. Says Yemen Talks to Resume Monday as Ban Says Hadi Must be Restored as President
The United Nations said on Sunday that all parties in Yemen, where a Shiite militia dissolved the government and parliament two days ago, are to resume political negotiations, as U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon called for the restoration to power of Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.
Factions including the widely condemned Huthi militia will resume talks on Monday, envoy Jamal Benomar said.
Benomar told reporters in Sanaa that Shiite militia leader "Abdelmalek al-Huthi and all political parties in Yemen have agreed to resume dialogue... which will begin tomorrow (Monday)."
Earlier on Sunday, U.N. chief Ban warned that "the situation is very, very seriously deteriorating, with the Huthis taking power and making this government vacuum."
"There must be restoration of legitimacy of President Hadi," the U.N. chief told reporters after talks with King Salman in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
The Huthi militia on Friday created a "presidential council" in a move it said was designed to fill a power vacuum.
The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, led by Sunni-dominated Saudi Arabia, on Saturday described the Huthi action as a coup.
The Huthis overran Sanaa in September and seized the presidential palace and key government buildings last month, prompting Hadi and Prime Minister Khalid Bahah to tender their resignations.
Yemen has been riven by instability since the Arab Spring-inspired uprising that forced strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh from power in 2012.
"I'm concerned that all these Huthis and... former president Saleh have been undermining the transition process," said Ban, who arrived in the kingdom to pay his respects after the January 23 death of Salman's predecessor King Abdullah.
Ban met with other officials including Oil Minister Ali al-Naimi and GCC Secretary General Abdullatif al-Zayani.
"This situation in Yemen has been the major topic which we addressed," Ban said, adding that it must be dealt with through U.N. Security Council and GCC initiatives.
Ban said U.N. envoy Jamal Benomar has been "working very hard in Yemen, facilitating a way out of the current political crisis and a return to the path of the peaceful political transition."
Benomar has returned to Sanaa and resumed contacts with major political players to find a way out of a deepening crisis caused by the Huthi takeover, participants in the talks said Sunday.
He had left suddenly for Saudi Arabia last week, where he is believed to have held consultations with visiting Ban Ki-moon. He returned to Sanaa late Saturday and held meetings with all the main political factions, including leaders of the ruling Revolutionary Committee set up by the rebels, known as Huthis.
Ban said that he and King Salman agreed "everything possible must be done to reduce terrorism, both from Yemen and from Daesh," an Arabic term to describe the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group.
IS has seized parts of Syria and Iraq where it has been accused of atrocities including beheading foreign hostages and burning alive a captured Jordanian fighter pilot.
Both Jordan and Saudi Arabia are part of a United States-led coalition conducting air strikes against IS.
The jihadists, as well as the Western-backed Free Syrian Army, are also fighting the forces of Syrian President Bashar Assad.
"I am also profoundly concerned about the appalling crimes that continue to be committed in Syria by all sides," Ban said.
He said he hopes Riyadh's plan to reopen an embassy in Baghdad, after nearly 25 years and a history of strained ties, will deepen their cooperation "including on countering terrorism."
Ban said he did not discuss specific human rights cases during his talks in the kingdom, which has faced constant global criticism over its rights record.
But he expects that under King Salman's leadership the kingdom "will also show an example in promoting human rights, particularly women and young people and marginalized groups of people and foreign migrant workers."
The Huthis are under mounting pressure following their decision on Friday to dissolve parliament, which cemented their takeover less than five months after they seized the capital, Sanaa. Late Saturday, the party of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh -- the Huthis' main ally -- added its voice to the growing opposition to the takeover and called for a return to the dialogue moderated by Benomar.
A powerful alliance of six Arab nations led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates has denounced the Huthis' "coup." Egypt, a regional powerhouse with longtime interests in Yemen, says it is alarmed and is closely monitoring the situation there.
The Arab world's poorest country is reeling from the crisis, with many areas experiencing lengthy power and water cuts. Authorities are finding it increasingly difficult to pay government salaries on time.
Yemen is home to one of al-Qaida's most active branches. Militants target army and security forces on a near-daily basis across much of the country, and U.S. drone attacks targeting the militants have killed civilians, fueling popular resentment.
The Huthis' capture of the capital in September and its formal takeover over the weekend puts the country of at least 25 million on a slippery path to civil war or sectarian strife. The Shiite Huthis have clashed with al-Qaida militants, who are Sunni and backed by powerful tribes in northern Yemen.
The Huthi takeover has also stoked secessionist sentiments in the south, raising fears of a repeat of the 1994 civil war, when the formerly independent south attempted to break away from its union with the north, forged four years earlier.
Last month, the rebels raided the presidential palace and besieged the residence of President Hadi, a southerner. Within days, Hadi and his Cabinet resigned. They remain under house arrest.
Hadi was elected president in 2012 after a popular revolt forced Saleh to step down.
Like the Huthis, Saleh is a member of the Zaidi sect, a small branch of Shiite Islam that exists almost solely in Yemen. Zaidis represent about 30 percent of Yemen's population.
The Huthis' opponents view them as a proxy of Shiite Iran, charges denied by the rebels.
Source: Agence France Presse, Associated Press
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