Statement of the Government of the Republic of Yemen on the Houthis’ Refusal to Extend and Expand the Truce.
October 3, 2022
The Government of Yemen affirms its regrets vis-à-vis the unsuccessful efforts of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations to Yemen in persuading the Houthi militias to choose the path of peace instead of war, and its refusal to extend and expand the truce on 2 October 2022.
The Government further affirms that despite the recalcitrance of the Houthi militias, the truce that lasted since April 2, 2022 had brought many benefits to a wide segment of our population as a result of the concessions made by the Yemeni government and the Arab coalition to mitigate their suffering — sparing no measures to demonstrate all forms of flexibility and cooperation with the UN special envoy to overcome the obstacles created by the Houthi militias.
The Yemeni government has dealt positively with the recent proposal of the Special Envoy and has sought, in renewing the truce, to expand it for the benefit of all Yemenis, underscoring its keenness to exert all efforts aimed at alleviating the human suffering of our people in all governorates without any differentiation. Yet , the Houthi militias have purposely engaged in evasion of its commitments to the truce and have fabricated successive complications to thwart it — but whose conduct the Yemeni people are familiar with and which has been closely monitored and similarly experienced by the international community.
The government asserts that notwithstanding the Houthi militias eschewing their obligations under the truce agreement, and their incomprehensible intransigence towards opening the main roads to the city of Taiz and other governorates, it has maintained the truce by allowing fuel ships to the ports of Hodeidah in accordance with procedures to verify the safety of shipments and for operating without links to money laundering, terrorist financing, for not violating international sanctions regimes imposed on Iranian oil. And the Government had undertaken exceptional actions to facilitate international flights through Sana’a Airport for travelers such as foregoing obtaining any official travel documents to depart.
Indeed, the government’s appeals concerning the Houthis wreaking havoc have not been responded to since the Stockholm Agreement was announced in 2018, including to stop the Houthi militias from tampering with the revenues of Hodeidah ports and the need to use them properly to pay the salaries of civil servants in the areas under the control of these militias based on the 2014 payroll manifest. Though these demands were renewed in the Special Envoy’s proposal and in negotiations for extending and expanding the truce, it faced renewed insistence from the Houthi militias overruling the latter for the interests of their leaders and sponsors in the Iranian regime, thus preventing the abatement in the suffering for our people.
The Yemeni government calls on the United Nations Security Council and the international community to deal determinedly and diligently with these terrorist militias, particularly in light of the recent serious threats announced on their official websites threatening international navigation and to attack ships and oil installations. This constitutes a real threat to the security and peace in Yemen, the region and even to the world, and bestows merit for their designation as a terrorist group and for placing sanctions on its leaders as an additional tool to pressure them to abandon any recourse for war and to engage in peace efforts led by the United Nations without conditions — and to compel giving priority to the process of dialogue in the interests of the Yemeni people over the ambitions of the Iranian regime in the region through practice of war.
The Government of the Republic of Yemen affirms its appreciation for the efforts made by the Special Envoy to extend and expand the truce, and will continue its support for him in leading the United Nations mediation to achieve a comprehensive, just and sustainable peace in Yemen that is based on the principal references for a political solution, namely: the Gulf Cooperation Council Initiative and its executive mechanism; the outcomes of the comprehensive National Dialogue Conference; and United Nations Security Council resolutions pertaining to the Yemeni issue, foremost being Resolution 2216