Global Arab Network | President Saleh: Yemen capable to fight for years if necessary

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President Saleh: Yemen capable to fight for years if necessary

Global Arab Network - - Adam Turner

Saturday, 26 September 2009 19:57

The Yemeni army is able to fight Houthi fighters for years if necessary, Yemen President Ali Abdullah Saleh said on Saturday, calling on the insurgents to accept a ceasefire proposed by his government.

"We will not backtrack, even if the war takes five or six years ... we will not stop," he said on Yemeni state Channel.

He was speaking at an event attended by senior military officials to mark the 1962 revolution.

Saleh called on the rebels to return to the "right path" and accept a truce to end the fighting in which hundreds of people have been killed since it broke out last month in the mountainous north of the poor Arab state.

Saleh indicated that what is currently taking place in Saada is an extension of the ignorance and Imamate era.

"The 6th war we are dealing with in Saada is imposed on us," President said, noting that "we do not want it but the Yemeni military institutions will stand in front of this rebellion in Saada districts and Harf Sufian."

Army fighter jets pounded rebel positions in the suburbs of Saada city and some parts of Harf Sufyan, the officials said.

The government has offered the rebels a truce but is demanding they "respect the ceasefire and the opening of roads, evacuate their positions and free captured civilians and soldiers."

Two separate ceasefires have lasted only a few hours before fighting erupted again.

Saleh said that al-Houthis are stationed in Harf Sufian as it is the main gate to Saada and blocked the way to deliver supplies and medicines to the victims, noting that this is not a regular war but it is a gangs war, or otherwise, it would have been ended since its start.

The Yemeni people have opted for the political pluralism and, therefore, we practice it and will not give it up at all, President said, adding that democracy and political pluralism better emerged after the Yemeni unity as it allowed those parties under the table to see the light and started to express their opinions within the framework of the constitution and enforced laws.

U.N. agencies estimate the fighting has made a further 50,000 people homeless, mostly women and children, in addition to about 100,000 who fled their homes during earlier rounds of the violence which began in 2004.

The international aid group Oxfam said this week Yemen could soon face a humanitarian crisis as a result of the escalation.

"The continuation of hostilities, the failure of the truce and the closure of roads has prevented humanitarian agencies from coming to the aid of the displaced," UN spokeswoman Laure Chedraoui told AFP a few days ago.

"Foodstuffs for tens of thousands of refugees... are being depleted," she said.

Saleh said the government is committed to providing aid and support to the displaced people and called on international aid agencies to continue their assistance to the civilians.

"We have earmarked tens of millions (of rials) to fix the harm that resulted from this current war," he said in his Saturday speech.

The government accuses the rebels of hindering the work of aid agencies by blocking essential roads and taking civilians as human shields.

He made clear that the Yemeni people are facing three challenges; al-Houthis, Al-Qaeda and terrorism, and the national economy which is linked by the previous two challenges, saying "if the war in Saada ended as well as terrorism, the national economy will improve, but under these two challenges in addition to the world financial crisis the country's economy is still negatively affected.

Concluding his speech, he praised those who sacrificed themselves in the Yemeni revolutions for the sake of a stable and educated Yemen. (Reuters, AFP, SABA)

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