President Hadi vows to shut down terrorism in Yemen

President Hadi vows to shut down terrorism in Yemen
Yemen's president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi sent a defiant message against terrorists breeding in the conflict-ridden country as the planned peace talks glimmer in the horizon.
3 min read
31 March, 2016
The embattled president was forced to leave Yemen's capital when Houthis overran the city [Getty]
Yemen's president, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi has outlined steps to be taken to establish peace ahead of the planned talks in Kuwait next month.

Hadi's future plans for the "broken country" were laid out in an op-ed on the New York Times in which he confidently assured his citizens that his government "is working hard to restore peace", while boasting of having weakened Houthi rebels' military positions with the liberation of "nearly 75 percent of land" previously occupied by the Houthis.

Hadi declared his government's willingness to avoid an all-out war while pointing towards the country's somewhat failed six-month National Dialogue Conference that took place post-revolution, instead solely laying the blame of the instability on the Houthi takeover of the capital in September 2014.

"That process was derailed just as the country was putting into place the decisions of the National Dialogue Conference, a forum created by Yemenis and backed by the international community," he wrote.

"The Houthis themselves were party to the conference discussions until they intensified their violence."

It is for this reason, the president says, "with our country in chaos, we were left with no choice but to call for the assistance of our brothers in Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries. Without intervention, Yemen's future might have been that of a largely lawless and feudal country."

Hadi echoed previous requests for economic support from the international community in order to provide services for Yemenis rocked with years of instability.

"Defeating extremism requires a coherent government that can provide services to its citizens," he said adding the "urgent need" for international economic assistance" to "help Yemen heal."

Defiantly, Hadi insisted to shut down, "once and for all, the terrorist safe havens and again work with the West and Arab partners to rid our territory of the extremists who plot attacks on targets in the United States, Europe, Arab states and elsewhere" mentioning the government's recent victories against al-Qaeda militants deep-rooted in the coastal city, Aden.

Expectedly, the Yemeni President took the opportunity to send a stern message to Iran "which seeks to expand its sphere of control through its Houthi proxies, that Yemen will not yield a single inch of territory to outside forces."

Violence and instability have rocked Yemen since September 2014 when Houthi rebels seized Sanaa, forcing the government to relocate in the southern coastal city, Aden.

But warring parties have agreed to lay down their weapons on April 10 in preparation for peace talks in Kuwait a week later, after a year-long battle left the impoverished state in an even more dire situation.

More than 6,300 people have died - half of them civilians -since the Saudi-led coalition launched airstrikes on Yemen in March 2015 in a bid to overpower the Houthis and reinstate President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi's government.