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UN Security Council to vote on arms embargo against Yemen’s Houthis

A meeting of the UN Security Council (file photo)

The UN Security Council (UNSC) is set to vote on a draft resolution proposed by Arab states to impose an arms embargo on Yemen’s Houthi leaders and urge the movement to withdraw from the territories under its control.

The UNSC is scheduled to vote on the draft resolution, put forward by Jordan and some Persian Gulf Arab countries, on Tuesday.

The draft would place an arms embargo on the top figures of the Houthi movement, including its leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi; the movement’s military commander, Abd al-Khaliq al-Houthi; and its second-in-command, Abdullah Yahya al-Hakim.

Veto-wielding Russia, however, has insisted that the arms embargo should be imposed on all parties to the conflict, not just the Houthis.

The measure would also impose an asset freeze and travel ban on al-Houthi, and demand that the Houthis withdraw from the areas they have seized, including the capital, Sana’a.

The Houthis, now part of popular committees advancing in the country, took over state matters after accusing the then government of Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi of failing to properly contain terror and corruption in the country

The UNSC draft urges all Yemeni parties to end the use of violence and “resume and accelerate” UN-brokered negotiations to continue the country’s political transition.

Earlier this month, Russia submitted a draft resolution to the UNSC, urging a humanitarian halt in the deadly Saudi airstrikes in Yemen to allow the evacuation of foreign nationals in the country. The one-page text demanded the establishment of “regular and obligatory humanitarian pauses in the airstrikes” in an attempt to “allow all concerned states and international organizations to evacuate their citizens and personnel from Yemen.” The UNSC is currently deliberating on the Russian draft resolution.

Saudi Arabia’s military aggression against Yemen started on March 26 without a UN mandate in a bid to restore power to fugitive former President Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

Yemeni people inspect the rubble of destroyed houses in a village west of the capital, Sana’a, after Saudi airstrikes on April 4, 2015. (©AFP) 

 

Reports say close to 2,600 people have been killed and many more wounded in the Saudi attacks.

The UN has called for an immediate “humanitarian pause” of at least a few hours each day to allow deliveries of urgently needed aid to the crisis-hit country.

MSM/HJL/HMV


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