Head of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council calls on Europe to strengthen support for the state and intensify pressure on the Houthi militia
Aden, July 19 (KUNA) -- Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi called on the European Union today, Sunday, to strengthen its support for the Yemeni government and intensify pressure on the Houthi militia, actions that would contribute to safeguarding the peace process, restoring state institutions, and ending the coup.
State news agency Saba reported that al-Alimi made these remarks while receiving a delegation from the European Parliament, led by Austrian MEP Reinhold Lopatka, and including parliamentarians from Sweden, Germany, and Spain, along with several officials from the Europe-Middle East and Gulf Sub-Committee of the European Parliament, to discuss developments in Yemen and repeated Iranian violations of Yemeni sovereignty.
Al-Alimi praised the European Union’s supportive stance toward the Yemeni people and its government, as well as its development, relief, and economic reform programs. He emphasized the EU’s crucial role in enhancing prospects for peace and stability, defending the international system based on respect for state sovereignty, and deterring armed groups, including through their designation on terrorist lists.
He outlined the measures taken by the government to counter the Houthi militia’s escalation, including responses to ceasefire violations and initiatives to operate Sanaa Airport legally and safely. He welcomed the Jordanian initiative to operate flights to Sanaa Airport, describing it as a legal and humanitarian solution that ensures citizens’ travel while preserving Yemen’s sovereignty.
He stressed that the government was not the cause of the humanitarian crisis, accusing the Houthi militia of thwarting initiatives aimed at alleviating the suffering of Yemenis, refusing to resume air flights, failing to pay employees’ salaries, targeting oil facilities, confiscating assets of Yemenia Airways, and using civilians as hostages to achieve illegitimate gains.
He underscored the importance of the European Parliament exerting maximum pressure on the Houthi militia to release kidnapped UN staff and humanitarian workers, and to ensure that those responsible for human rights violations are not left unpunished.
He reaffirmed the government’s commitment to a peace approach based on ending the causes of war, restoring state institutions, respecting Yemen’s sovereignty, ensuring the security of neighboring countries, and maintaining the state’s monopoly on arms. He stressed that Yemen’s stability contributes to protecting international navigation, supply chains, and combating terrorism and organized crime.
He noted that the desired peace must ensure a break with the past, criminalize racism, sectarianism, and violence, and protect rights, freedoms, equal citizenship, peaceful transfer of power, respect for the constitution, and the rule of law. He considered that any peace that does not address these root causes will remain merely a temporary truce.
He expressed hope for continued European political support for the Yemeni government and backing for economic reform and development programs in liberated areas, viewing support for the Yemeni state as an investment in security, stability, and international law, and arguing that its cost is lower than the cost of allowing the Houthi militia to continue controlling the southern shore of the Red Sea. (End) S.N.S./T.A.B.
