(Abu Dhabi) – Vice President of Yemen and Prime Minister, Khalid Mahfouz Bahah, has hailed the relations between Yemen and the GCC states, citing the active role of the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia to back Yemen’s legitimate government.
Bahah said at a press conference held at Emirates Palace, “Yemen passes through a critical moment and should not be left alone to face the challenge posed by the Houthi militias and the ousted president Ali Saleh’s group, who kill civilians with impunity, murder Yemeni officials and carry out subversive activities, with the aim to destroy the state’s infrastructure.”
“There is a need for a new vision and roadmap to strengthen relations with Yemen’s sisterly states in the Gulf,” he added.
This vision, Baha told the Emirates News Agency (WAM), evolves merging of Yemen in the GCC, or rehabilitating it, which could be a better solution in the current phase.”
He called on Yemenis to draw first a common vision with the GCC and not to join it, but to rehabilitate Yemen according to certain priorities. He stressed that the rehabilitation of Yemen is through raising the educational and health levels.
Bahah said that Yemen shares with the brothers a similar political attitude towards Iran, noting that the existence of a strong government would help solve all the difficulties with the support of the sisterly states and the coalition states, notably, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
On the current military operations, he said the coalition forces bomb military positions precisely and avoid civilian casualties.
Bahah applauded the historic stance of The Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia and all the leaders of the coalition member states in their response to Yemen’s request to intervene.
He said Yemen is currently facing the notorious Houthi militias that should be uprooted to ensure stability and peace.
Bahah said the Houthi militias and Saleh group have tampered with the financial system in Yemen, citing that they withdrew 1.5 trillion Yemeni Rials from the central bank in Sana’a at the end of 2015 and at the expense of the government, reducing the foreign deposit from $5.2 billion to $2.3 billion. The foreign reserves include the Saudi deposit worth $1 billion.
(Courtesy WAM)
