War was not government's choice but imposed on it: AL representative

[17/07/2017 01:48]

CAIRO-SABA
Yemen's permanent representative to the Arab League (AL) aid Monday the war in Yemen has never been the government's choice but was imposed on it after the rebel militias rejected all the peaceful choices and the big concessions from the government.

Riyadh Al-Akbari made the remarks in an AL session of consultations in which the UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismaiil Ould Chiekh Ahmed delivered a briefing on the situation in Yemen in the presence of the AL Secretary General Ahmed Abu Elgheit and Arab permanent representatives to the organization.

He said: "The government still extends its hands for a peaceful fair and inclusive peace based on the three terms of reference agreed upon locally, regionally and internationally; the GCC Initiative, the National Dialogue outcomes and the UNSC resolution 2216."

The Yemeni representative aid the government is pursuing a settlement that brings genuine last peace, not a fragile truce that collapses into new rounds of future wars and not a peace that rewards the rebels and terrorists for undermining Yemen's sovereignty.

Al-Akbar renewed the government's agreement in principle to the UN envoy's proposals for peace, despite the Houthis intransigence and aggressive rejection of the proposals.

He recalled government's repeated announcements that it, headed by President Hadi, is ready to discuss the details of the coup militias' withdrawal from Hodeidah in light of the peace consultations host in Kuwait last year, to which the government agreed.

The government's intent is to increase the commercial goods and humanitarian aid supply to Yemen via that Red Sea port, which is currently being exploited by the militias for the exclusive use of their rich leaders and the revenues of which are used to finance their war.

The representative said the government, backed by King Salman Relief Center and other donor organizations, is doing its utmost to keep the epidemic of cholera addressed and curbed from further spread. The rebel-controlled areas are where the epidemic is rife.

He said the government's focus now is on reconstruction and accomplishing the mission of uprooting the remaining terrorist guerrillas in cooperation with Saudi Arabia, the UAE and the rest of the international community.