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Houthis threaten to detain, charge Yemen ministers

Members of Yemen’s Shia Houthi Ansarullah movement man a checkpoint in Sana’a, Yemen. (File photo)

Yemen’s Shia Houthi Ansarullah movement has threatened to arrest and press charges against the impoverished Arab country’s prime minister and all cabinet members if they refuse to return to work.

On Monday, the Houthis stated that they would detain Prime Minister Khaled Bahah and all cabinet members, and try them for treason in case they do not resume their duties.

President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Bahah’s cabinet resigned on January 22, after Ansarullah revolutionaries seized the presidential palace in the capital, Sana’a. The parliament, however, rejected Hadi’s resignation.

According to a report broadcast by al-Masirah satellite television station affiliated with Ansarullah, 17 Yemeni cabinet members have agreed to restart their posts.

‘Yemen talks should be moved from Sana’a’

Hadi has demanded that the UN-sponsored talks currently being held in Sana’a to resolve the political crisis in the country be transferred to a different location. 

On Monday, the UN special envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, said Hadi had expressed “reservations about continuing the current negotiations in Sana’a.”

According to Benomar, the Yemeni leader also “requested they be transferred to a ‘safe place’ to which the parties should agree.”

Ansarullah revolutionaries 

The Ansarullah revolutionaries say the Yemeni government has been incapable of properly running the affairs of the country and providing security.

In September 2014, the Ansarullah fighters gained control of Sana’a. Before gaining control of the capital, the Houthis had set a deadline for the political parties to put aside differences and fill the power vacuum, but the deadline was missed without any change in the country’s political scene.

The Houthi movement played a key role in the popular 2011 revolution that forced the country’s former dictator, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to quit after 33 years in power.

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