• By Abdul-hamid Mohammad- Islam Times
In the meantime, the Saudi artilleries are still raiding on a number of populated Yemeni villages and towns in the province of Saada, despite the fact that the Huthis fighters have withdrawn from the Saudi Arabian sites that they have occupied during the clashes with the Saudi royal army two weeks ago.
In fact, Al-Houthi had proposed an initiative to obtain peace and to end the war with KSA, during the last ten days of January, and had thus announced his withdrawal from the occupied Saudi Arabian territories and sites, stressing that it was necessary for his fighters to enter these territories and sites in order to confront the aggression being launched from there.
• Inevitably, Al-Houthi’s initiative issued to Riyadh raised a stinging rebuke in Sanaa- the place the respond came quick and furious from. Formal source at the Yemeni Ministry of Defense declared that Abdul-Malik Al-Houthi’s announcement to end the war with KSA and to withdraw from its territories is but only a new attempt to dodge, lie and deceive. “Al-Houthi did not announce that his misadventure has come to an end but only after weakness, fear, and the great sense of defeat that he and his fighters have felt of”, the source said in a statement published by Al-Thawra a Yemeni official daily newspaper.
• Saudi Arabia, despite being keen to appear as the champion, was more realistic on the subject of Al-Houthi’s offer. Reuter’s news agency, quoting from the Saudi Ministry of Defense spokesman, stated: Riyadh is considering the offer and will announce its formal decision later on. Subsequently, another Saudi source speaking to the British Broadcasting Corporation did nothing more than lessening the importance of the initiative considering that the Saudi forces succeed in taking control of their borders and thus defeated and deterred the intruders.
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• From their side, the Houthis are working on moving ahead by exploiting the confusion and the mutual suspicion found between the officials of both Sanaa and Riyadh in order to separate the two sides’ negotiation process. Accordingly, Al-Houthi has launched on January 30th, an initiative (he said was the fourth) that aims at bringing the war that is taking place between his factions and the Yemeni government for nearly seven months to an end. In his said initiative, he accepted the five points previously proposed by the President of Yemen at the beginning of the year 2010, which are summarized as follows:
1- To commit to a cease-fire, to open the roads, to remove the landmines, to abandon posts in the mountains, and to stop long-term lasting in the sites and roadsides.
2- To withdraw from the municipal districts and to stop intervening with the authority’s local affairs.
3- To return civil and military looted equipment.
4- To release the civilian and soldier detainees.
5- To comply with the Constitution, Law and Regime.
Hence, Al-Houthi in a released audio message stated: “since we are concerned to stay away from bloodshed and to avoid the disastrous situation that is affecting the country as well as the genocide being practiced against the civilians, we for the fourth time announce our acceptance of the five conditions after the aggression stops”. He also hoped that the government welcomes his initiative asking it to make the country’s interest a priority.
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• The government of Sanaa most likely was not expecting such an initiative from the Houthis especially that they have issued an initiative to Saudi Arabia before two weeks in which they overlooked their confrontation with Yemen, what provoked Sanaa and made it feel insulted and panic, fearing that the kingdom might leave Yemen alone facing the war with the Houthis.
On the first hand, and as stated by some speakers, the position of the government of Yemen on Al-Houthi’s acceptance of its conditions was in the first place complicated and was represented evidently in the early sharp reactions rejecting to stop the war. On the other hand, the National Defense Council shortly announced that the Government of Yemen is ready to stop the military operations, provided that the Houthis commit to apply the six conditions it has demanded. The Council supervising the war said that the government does not mind to stop the military operations in accordance with specific and clear mechanisms, and in keeping guarantees of avoiding confrontation repetition, obtaining peace, returning the displaced people to their villages, and reconstructing war damages.
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• Away from what the observers consider that both Sanaa and Riyadh are trying to way out “saving face” and preventing possible loss, some political officials following-up the war developments in northern Yemen believe that the two Governments are exhausted and both of them are facing a real tricky situation in their conflict with the Houthis. If truth is to be told, the alleged victory and gains achieved in the battlefield against this faction does not last in front of the technique of media transparency and political maneuver capability that Al-Houthi is practicing. Indeed, the Houthis’ flexibility, moving across the battlegrounds in the plains and mountains, and getting hold of the central part of politics and media reflect the reality that they are having a stable attitude in the field at different fronts.
This definitely does not mean that the Houthis are not serious in their efforts to reach reconcile or that their initiatives are only a political tactic aiming at prevailing against the opponents. Certainly, they never hide their efforts aiming at stopping the war and at ending the humanitarian annihilation of the civilians. It goes without saying that these civilians are badly suffering because of the continued clashes since almost six months, not to mention the difficult economic blockade being imposed on the citizens as a result of the war that suspended livelihoods and destroyed farms, hospitals, water projects and others.
• Some Observers describe Al-Houthi’s initiative issued to Sanaa and Riyadh as smart and as thoughtful steps that embarrassed the two governments and exposed the reality of their position rejecting to have real dialogue and/or find political solutions. For their side, the supporters of the “Believing Youth” describe this initiative as an indicative of the Houthis’ spirit of national and humanitarian responsibility. Whereas, the government of Saudi Arabia and as well that of Yemen excessively describe the initiative using expressions of genocide, uprooting and eradication.
Yet, the observers are aware of what Al-Houthi’s initiative- issued to Saudi Arabia prior to London’s conference on Yemen- includes of political significance. This initiative which was described as smart and which sent an important message to the international community and made both Sanaa and Riyadh lose every opportunity or them to use the war in order to defend against the Houthis at International forums. As a matter of fact, London’s Conference (non-binding) recommendations urge the two countries to adopt dialogue in order to find a solution for the armed conflict with the Houthis in northern Yemen.
• At the information level, the Houthis are achieving beyond Yemen a steady presence at the regional and international levels and have succeed despite the siege and the scarce potentials in making use of technology and modern means of communication in order to break the siege and the news embargo being imposed by both Saudi Arabia and Yemen on the military operations’ field. They have presented audio visual scenes of the battle, and have highlighted as well the humanitarian situation via video tapes showing women and children under the ruins of destroyed houses due to the daily random shelling.
Nevertheless, the Houthis are keen to be accurate in any information they send and/or in any statement their leaders issue and also keen to commit to their promises, what made them gain dynamic confidence from their surrounding. They are obtaining credibility at home and abroad, especially in terms of their position on the initiative that calls for dialogue and for putting an end to Yemen's increasing problems in the north and south in order to avoid anarchy and comprehensive collapse.
• According to observers, the tendency of the two said governments towards peace is a concern rejected by their countries because if it turns into reality, it gives the Houthis a significant representation and grants them the viability of spreading out and expanding i.e. having impact on several political balances and internal equations that are capable of destabilizing the security of the two regimes in the middle term and in the long one as well.
According to this point of view, stopping the war makes the Houthis gain more time for reorganizing their units and restoring their strength that was exhausted during the last war, what reduces the odds of dominating and/or eliminating them in the future.
However, if peace leads to such serious repercussions, from the standpoint of the rulers of both Riyadh and Sanaa, then could the war that so far entered its seventh month of its sixth round be able to achieve the contrary?
Merely the coming weeks and months are to answer....
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Few minutes after completing the preparation of this report, at nine pm on 2/2/2010 Al-Jazeera news broadcast reported Al-Houthi’s acceptance of the condition of the Yemeni government i.e. a pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia. The condition which was disregarded in the Houthis previous initiative, because according to them their confrontation with Saudi Arabia was just a reaction to aggression. Hence, last week the government rejected Al-Houthi’s initiative to accept Sanaa’s five conditions as a pretext that it did not comply with the sixth condition related to Saudi Arabia.
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Translation By: Mayssa Hazimeh
