Houthi fighters have taken full control of Yemens presidential palace in the capital Sanaa after a brief clash with the compounds security guards, witnesses and security sources say. The development came a day after the parties in the ongoing conflict in the Arabian Peninsula country said at two separate times they had agreed to a ceasefire. The ceasefires were intended to pave the way for negotiations on Tuesday between the opposing parties: the internationally backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and Ansarallah, the military wing of the Houthi movement. Guards at the presidential palace housing the main office of Hadi said they handed over the compound to Houthi fighters after a brief clash on Tuesday. Abdul Malik al-Houthi, for years the chief negotiator for Ansarallah, later delivered a speech, reeling off a long list of grievances against the Hadi government. He is the scion of the Zaidi Shia Houthi family from northwestern Yemen that the movement was named after. He held Hadi responsible for the instability in Yemen and for failing to implement a peace deal reached in September, the Peace and National Partnership Agreement (PNPA). Had the president acted responsibly, ... we the Yemeni people ... would have witnessed a positive reality, Houthi said. The Yemeni government has previously blamed the Houthis for first reneging on the peace deal. Khaled al-Hammadi, Al Jazeeras producer in Sanaa, said Houthi fighters had taken over and controlled completely the presidential palace. The commander of the presidential guard forces surrendered the Third Brigade of presidential guards to Houthi fighters without resistance and left the presidential palace, he said. This brigade, he said, boasts at least 280 Russian late-model tanks. Sniper attack Separately, Al Jazeeras Omar Al Saleh, reporting from the southern city of Aden, said he had received reports that presidential guards outside Hadis residence elsewhere in Sanaa had also come under attack from snipers. He reported, quoting sources, that Hadi was safe but his residence was surrounded by Houthi fighters. It also appeared that Hadi was no longer in control and had run out of options, he said. The UN Security Council also held closed-door consultations on Tuesday on the worsening crisis in Yemen. Jamal Benomar, the UN special envoy to Yemen, enroute to Yemen reported to the Security Council on the latest developments. Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from the UN headquarters in New York, said that the UN security council had tried almost all options at its disposal in Yemen, apart from military intervention, which member states were overwhelmingly against. Mark Lyall Grant, the British ambassador to the UN told Al Jazeera that the goal of the meeting was to release a statement affirming support for Hadi, and making it clear that the international community will not tolerate the spoilers of the transitional government.Read more at; aljazeera/news/middleeast/2015/01/yemen-ceasefire-collapses-amid-fresh-clashes-2015120144426713527.html
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 05:34:21 +0000
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