SANAA, 30 June — The government has recently signed an agreement with the Houthis to implement six steps towards stopping the war in Sa’ada governorate in the north, according to a statement by Rashad Al-Alimi, Minister of the Local Administration and the deputy of the Prime Minister for Defense Affairs.
According to the Saba News Agency, Al-Alimi, who visited Sa’ada this week, said that his visit comes after President Saleh ordered that he be updated on the situation in Sa’ada and on the needs of the people there.
Al-Alimi is also to discuss the ways to implement the six step agreement signed by Ali Al-Qaisi, the representative of Saudi Arabia, and Yosif Fishi and Ali Naser Qar’a, the representatives of the Houthis. The agreement which was signed on June 21, 2010 is meant to check the implementation of the six conditions in Al-Malaheet and on the Saudi border.
The six steps are the mechanism that they hope will end the war between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in Sa’ada, which started in 2004 and has continued intermittently for six years.
The six conditions for ending the war are a cease fire, opening the roads, removing landmines, that Houthis stop hiding in the mountains, submitting areas in Sa’ada held by Houthis to the government, and not penetrating the Saudi border as well as releasing all detainees.
Houthis have accused the government of going back on amnesty promises made by President Ali Abdullah Saleh on 22 May on the 20th anniversary of the Yemeni unification.
According to local media reports, fewer than 800 of the more than 3,000 prisoners believed to be covered by the amnesty have been released. Saleh announced an amnesty for all imprisoned southern separatists and Houthi rebels in the north during a speech to commemorate the twenty year anniversary of unification of Yemen.
“Instead of releasing Houthis according to President Saleh’s amnesty agreement, security authorities in the government are launching new campaigns to arrest our men,” Abdulmalenk Al-Houthi said.
Al-Houthi said that the security forces arrested a couple of people in the area of Al-Mazrak, Sa’ada governorate, a few days ago.
However, according to Amnesty International, Interior Ministry official Nisari countered these allegations, saying security patrols were ordered to arrest any citizens bearing arms and to prevent their movements between governorates in order to maintain security and stability.
“Houthis don’t want peace… They are using government security measures to restrict the movement of armed men as a pretext for them to breach the truce,” Nisari said. “They don’t want displaced families to return home.”
In a related situation, security sources from Mareb and Al-Jawf governorates said that a group of people said to be Houthi supporters from Aal Saleh established a checkpoint in Majzar district in Sa’ada and settled in tents in the area.
According to the media center in the Interior Ministry, one of Sa’ada’s Sheikhs asked this group to remove their checkpoint, but they ignored him as well as other Sheiks who tried to solve the problem peacefully.
In Harf Sufian, Amran governorate, dozens of tribal gunmen and Houthis were injured as they exchanged fire last Sunday. According to tribal sources, the gunmen were following parliamentarian Bin Uzair.
Houthis, however, said that the gunmen fired at a car going to Sa’ada. A man and a woman were injured as a result, and people targeted the Houthis, assuming they were behind the attack.
Houthis added that this is the ninth attack by Bin Uzair’s gunmen against them. Houthis accused the gunmen of closing the road and firing at their supporters.
At least 7 Houthi supporters were fired upon about two weeks ago after the two cars they were in were attacked by soldiers from the military who were stationed at Al-Misyad.
According to Houthis, the ninth ambush by the military threatens the truce between Houthis and the government.
The spokesman of the Houthis said on their website that this ambush is threatening the truce because it resembles the violations which caused the sixth phase of the war in Sa’ada in August 2009.
He added that these actions will add fuel to the fire and that the government should not consider attacking them during the truce.
A Houthi source in their Sa’ada office said that the Houthi information office organized activities last week in Sa’ada and Harf Sufian in Amran governorate to spread awareness among people about the dangers of the Al-Qaeda wing based in Yemen. They said that the US claims that it wants to fight terrorism while it in fact uses the perceived threat of Al-Qaeda members to invade and establish occupations in Arab countries.
Houthis posted stickers and large signs in the main streets and neighborhoods containing phrases like: “Al-Qaeda is a tool used by the US to invade Arab and Muslim countries.”
Earlier the Ministry of the Interior released information that it had attacked Al-Qaeda-based members in Mareb and that they had escaped to the governorates of Haja, Al-Jawf and Sa’ada in the north.
Houthis said that the escape of Al-Qaeda members to Sa’ada governorate was planned in order to create a situation in which it would be possible for the US to strike the governorate with air raids.