GCC Council Terrorist Operations Carried out by the Houthis

The Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, Member States have held their 41st GCC Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting, with the attendance of H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE's Foreign Minister.

The meeting issued the following statement: "The GCC Ministerial Council held here its 41st Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting chaired by Qatari Foreign Minister, Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, the Chairman of the GCC current session, in which the following representatives of the rest member states took part: Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, UAE Foreign Minister, H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Kuwaiti Foreign Minister, Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Bahraini Foreign Minister, Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah and GCC Secretary-General, Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani.

The Ministerial Council followed the dangerous developments in Yemen and the outcome of the unfortunate incidents and terrorist operations carried out by the Houthis and their supporters which resulted in undermining the political process in the Republic of Yemen based on the GGC initiative and its executive mechanism and the failure of the comprehensive national dialogue outputs and crippling the peaceful transitional process in a way that contradicts the best interests of Yemen and its people.

Recalling the decisions taken by the GCC leaders at the 35th session of the GCC Supreme Council held in Doha, December 2014, and the statement issued by the GCC Ministers of Interior at a meeting held in Jeddah in September 2014, the Ministerial Council expresses its continual support for the Yemeni people and strongly condemns these terrorist acts, including infringing on the constitutional legitimacy, storming the Presidencial Palace, abducting Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, Director of the Office of the President of the Republic of Yemen, who is also Secretary General of the National Dialogue Conference, and attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Khalid Mahfouz Bahhah.

The council also condemns the use of violence by the Houthis against the state, its institutions and citizens in addition to their expansion at the expense of other areas and components of Yemen society, a step that undermines Yemen's security, stability and unity.

The GCC council considers what happened in Sanaa on Tuesday, January 20th, 2015, a coup against legitimacy. In case that the Houthis are to withdraw from the Presidencial Palace and the home of President and that of the Prime Minister, lift self-emposed checkpoints leading to it, release the Director of Republic Presidency's office, normalise the security situation in the capital and return the government and security institutions to normalcy, the GCC Ministerial Council will send an envoy of the GCC Secretary General to communicate with all political forces and components of Yemen to complete the implementation of the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism's provisions and outputs of a comprehensive national dialogue.

The GCC confirms that Yemen's security is an integral part of the GCC national security and Yemen's stability and unity is a top priority for the GCC countries, stressing, in this regard, that the GCC would take the required measures to protect its member states' security, stability and vital interests in Yemen.

The GCC council confirms its support for the constitutional legitimacy of Yemen represented in Yemeni President, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and rejects all actions taken to impose a status quo by force and try to change the components and nature of the Yemeni society, calling on the Houthis to stop the use of force, withdraw from all the regions under their control, hand over the seized weapons from the military and security institutions and engage in the political process.

The council called upon all the parties and political forces to put the interest of Yemen top of priority, work to complete the implementation of the political process and avoid Yemen sliding further into chaos and violence, including increasing the suffering of the Yemeni people.

The Ministerial Council stresses the need to implement the UN Security Council Yemen-relevant resolutions, as what is happening in Yemen now represents a threat to international peace and security in the region and the whole world."