AL-MUKALLA (Arab News) – Yemen’s Ansarullah movement says it will would not renew the UN-brokered truce in Yemen, slamming the biased pro-Saudi stance, mainly from U.S. President Joe Biden.
The movement’s Supreme Political Council blasted the outcomes of Biden’s visit to the region that called them to strengthen the truce, saying that the calls “affect the sovereignty, security and stability of Yemen,” and pledged not to extend the truce.
“The SPC deplored the talk about understandings about extending the truce, stressing that the truce, which the side of the aggression did not abide by the implementation of its terms, represented a shocking and disappointing experience that cannot be repeated in the future,” the movement said in a statement carried by their official media.
The joint Saudi and American statement that came out on Saturday after the U.S. president’s meeting with Saudi officials called on the Ansarullah to implement all of the truce’s terms, without mentioning the breach of the truce by Riyadh.
The Supreme Political Council says continued interference in the war-ravaged country’s affairs by aggressive foreign states is the biggest impediment to establishment of peace.
“Peace requires serious will and readiness to take practical steps to end aggression, lift the country’s siege [by the invaders], put an end to occupation, and eliminate all the effects of war,” the council said.
Saudi Arabia launched a devastating war on Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with its Arab allies and with arms, logistical, and political support from the U.S. and other Western states. Simultaneous with the invasion, the aggressors and their supporters also put the entire impoverished country under an all-out land, aerial, and naval blockade.
The objective was to reinstall the Riyadh-friendly regime of former Yemeni president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and crush Yemen’s Ansarullah popular resistance movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of a functional government in Yemen.
While the Saudi-led coalition has failed to achieve any of its objectives, the war has killed hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
The United Nations brokered a truce between the coalition and Ansarullah, which came into effect in April, and was extended for another two months on June 2.
Throughout the course of the truce, however, Yemen has been reporting repeated breaches by the coalition.
“The invaders continue enforcing the siege [of Yemen] and prevent ships from sailing towards al-Hudaydah port,” the Supreme Political Council said.