Yemen’s Houthi rebels are not interested in spreading tyranny in the country and are willing to share power with other political factions if a permanent ceasefire with Saudi Arabia is reached, a top Houthi official has said.
In an exclusive interview with CNN, Mohamed Ali al-Houthi, member of the Supreme Political Council and former head of Yemen’s Houthi Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said that other Yemeni factions have nothing to fear in case of a withdrawal of foreign troops from the country, promising an inclusive form of governance.
“If we were not looking for full control during the war, then we will not look for full control at any other time,” al-Houthi told CNN.
His attempts at reassurance will likely be viewed skeptically by the Houthis’ rivals, and come amid concerns from other stakeholders that a truce with Saudi Arabia will give the heavily-armed Iran-backed rebels free rein to take over the entire country.
Yemen’s conflict began as a civil war in 2014, when Houthi forces stormed the capital Sanaa and toppled the internationally recognized and Saudi-backed government. It spiraled into a wider war in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition intervened in an attempt to beat back the Houthis. Eight years later, the coalition has been unable to dislodge the rebels, who have fired hundreds of rockets toward Saudi cities in retaliation. The war has sparked one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises, leaving thousands dead and pushing parts of the country into famine.
A Saudi delegation arrived in Sanaa on Sunday for talks with the Houthis aimed at securing a permanent ceasefire. And on Friday, negotiations bore their biggest fruits yet with the beginning of a three-day prisoner swap of nearly 900 detainees from both sides. Houthi chief negotiator Mohammed Abdulsalam tweeted on Friday that talks had been “serious and positive.”
Saudi Arabia has begun mending ties with old foes of late, namely Iran, Syria and now Yemen’s Houthis as it redirects its focus on economic growth at home, which requires regional stability.
“Saudi Arabia currently needs stability on its southern border and to (eliminate) threats to it from Houthis and others,” said Ahmed Nagi, a senior Yemen analyst at the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, adding that it will transform its role in Yemen from a military one to one of soft power.
Al-Houthi told CNN the group is willing to share power and resources with the Yemeni people. “We do not want to tyrannize anything,” he said, adding that it is keen to speak to other Yemeni factions and work with them to achieve what is in their interests and “in the interest of the public.”
Escalating the civil war
Experts have argued that a Saudi deal with the Houthis that does not address the pre-existing political problems among Yemen’s disparate groups will only end the international dimension of the war and could escalate the civil conflict.
Other factions, especially the internationally recognized government and the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) that controls parts of the south, may find al-Houthi’s promises difficult to believe, experts say, as all other stakeholders in the conflict – including the United Nations – have been excluded from the current Houthi-Saudi talks.
CNN has reached out to the Saudi government for comment.
Source – CNN
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