West turning blind eye to Saudi war on Yemen: Activist

Press TV has conducted an interview with Hussein al-Bukhaiti, Yemeni activist and political commentator in Sana’a, to discuss the ongoing Saudi military aggression against Yemen.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

 Press TV: First of all, it seems that when you look at the situation in Yemen it is only getting worse. As we have just mentioned civilian houses and infrastructure were targeted in Sa’ada leaving at least 42 people including children dead, however this is not making the headlines in the mainstream media. Why isn’t Yemen being given a priority?

 Bukhaiti: First of all it is because of the Saudi influence and the Saudi and the [Persian] Gulf oil money. This is what is affecting the media in the Arab world and as well in the western countries. And we have seen that the closer we come to any talks in Geneva, the more aggressive the Saudis become.

It looks that they are trying to kill as many people as they can before any agreement will be reached because they are losing on the battle field and…today the popular committees and the Yemeni army have destroyed a watch tower for the Saudi army in the south of Saudi Arabia which that army base, it was always attacking all neighboring border area of Yemen.

And just as you mentioned, there was yesterday one of the bloodiest Saudi attacks on Wadi Sabr in Sahar, Sa’ada. They killed 41 people from one family. About 29 are children between seven months and 13 years old. This shows how bloody this attack on Yemen is and all the entire UN and the West are showing a blind eye to what is happening in Yemen.  

 Press TV: So Mr. Bukhaiti, you touched on the talks that are hopefully going to happen soon between different Yemeni factions. How do you see Saudi Arabia’s role with regards to influencing these talks?   

Bukhaiti: I think the Saudis will have influence because they have hundreds of people in Riyadh loyal to them especially they have the former president and the former head of the Yemeni government, Mr. [Khaled] Bahah of course and they will use through these people. As we in Yemen we are seeing them as traitors to the country but for the Saudis they are using their so-called legitimacy to influence any kind of talk but I am glad that the UN has declared that any talk in Geneva will be without any precondition.

So this means that the Riyadh meeting and the outcome that comes from Riyadh will not have any legitimacy on any new agreement and the only legitimacy that we will base any agreement on, it will be the national dialogue outcome and the Peace and [National] Partnership Agreement that was signed in September 2014.

AHK/MKA

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