Al-Houthi rebels must surrender or face fire, say scholars

Religious scholars gather to find a way to peace.

The government must continue to fight the rebels in Sa’ada if they do not surrender, said Yemeni religious scholars Thursday, at the end of a conference to come up with solutions to the four-month armed conflict between the government and Shiite rebels in the north.   “The rebel leaders must return to the right way, and surrender themselves and their weapons and give up rebellion to save their blood and the blood of others,” read one of the 16 recommendations of the conference.

“The state must treat the problem wisely as it started, and it must reduce the suffering of those affected by the war, including the injured and those who have been made homeless.”  Conference participants also called on Yahya al-Houthi, one of the rebel leaders based in Germany, to return to Yemen and to stop “misleading and misinforming and exploiting the incidents to violate the sovereignty and security of Yemen and incite foreign states against Yemen.” The scholars said that this call would be the last chance for “the rebels to surrender weapons and give up their rebellion and return to their homes as citizens, and they will have the guarantee of the head of the state and the religious scholars of Yemen.

“If they do not respond to such a call, then the state must fight them to stop and eradicate their evil, and it will be the duty of everyone in Yemen to stand with the state against them, and nobody will be allowed to provide any kind of support to them (rebels),” the scholars warned in their statement.  Furthermore, the conference formed a committee to follow up the implementation of its recommendations and findings. The final statement of conference said the conference would continue to be held until the rebellion is eradicated and life in the Sa’ada province gets back to normal.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh opened the three-day religious conference by promising to fully implement any resolution proposed by the participating religious scholars to end the armed rebellion to save Yemeni blood. “I fully authorize this conference to do everything that can be done to save Yemeni blood,” Saleh said.    “There is bloodshed and we feel pain when we see innocent citizens and soldiers being killed, and although it was the rebels who waged the war, we are against the bloodshed,” Saleh said.

Yahya al-Houthi addressed a letter to the conference from Germany, proposing his own solution to ending the war. In his letter, which was sent to local media here in Yemen, al-Houthi demanded an immediate ceasefire from the two sides, and an official announcement of negotiations. He also demanded “an official approval of Qatari mediation, the stopping of all media escalating campaigns, urgent medical assistance, the formation of a committee of tribal sheikhs and religious scholars from Zaidi and Shafi sects (five from each) to supervise the implementation, and the withdrawal of the troops to their positions before the first war in 2004.”

There must be a presidential amnesty for everyone, said al-Houthi. The government must release the detainees from the two sides, hand over the dead bodies, including the body of Hussein al-Houthi, establish an independent authority to open national dialogue and confront sectarianism, offer official approval for the establishment of a political party according to the constitution and laws, and the establishment of a university in Sa’ada for Zaidis, he said.  Meanwhile, the battles on ground in Sa’ada are the fiercest there since the war erupted early this year. The officials hope to end the war before May 22, the celebration of Unification Day between north and south Yemen in 1990. 

The vice chairman of the military general staff brigadier Salem Quten said that the state would strike with an iron fist against “the rebels who undermine the security and stability of the homeland.”   “The difficult situation in some of the districts of Sa’ada is due to terrorist acts and sabotage being carried out by the terrorist elements and outlaws,” said Quten in a meeting held in Sa’ada on Wednesday that brought together sheikhs, MPs, and social figures from the governorate.  Ali Mohsen, commander of the northern military region, who also attended the meeting, said that the troops were controlling most of the areas in which al-Houthis were positioned. 

He praised “the positive role played by the sheikhs and social figures in Sa’ada, who support the troops against the terrorists and saboteurs.”  The official Saba News Agency reported that the tribal sheikhs and social figures confirmed their support for the troops.   To this end, Ali al-Ansi, Chairman of the National Security Agency, said that Yemen suffered from terrorism as it suffered from the conspiracy against the revolution and the republican regime and unity. 

“The terrorism in Yemen is from inside, and what is happening in some areas of Sa’ada is considered to be the worst kind of terrorism,” al-Ansi told  affiliates of the aviation and air defense academy on Wednesday, while delivering a   lecture entitled “Terrorists and Saboteurs, Sources of Support, and  Means of Confrontations.” 

Security officials pointed out that the state had was made aware of the goals of the al-Houthis in Sa’ada in the first war in 2004, when they raised up arms against the legitimacy of the state, believing that right to rule is restricted only to them, because they are the Prophet Mohammed’s descendants.

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