Yemeni militia stands defiant ahead of UN vote

SANAA: Militiamen who seized power in Yemen vowed to defy “threats” as the UN Security Council prepared to adopt a resolution on Sunday calling on them to step aside or face consequences.
Yemen is a traditional US ally in the fight against al-Qaeda, but the impoverished Arabian Peninsula country has descended into chaos since the militia known as Huthis overran the capital in September.
Another city they captured last year, Ibb in central Yemen, was the scene of violence on Sunday when Huthis fired live rounds to disperse hundreds of protesters, wounding several of them.
Following their seizure of Sanaa and Ibb, matters worsened when they ousted the government and dissolved parliament on February 6, tightening their grip after Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi resigned in protest at their advance.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has warned Yemen is falling apart and called for Hadi’s reinstatement.
Citing security concerns, nine Arab and Western countries shuttered their embassies in Yemen last week and evacuated diplomats.
The Security Council is expected to adopt a resolution on Sunday calling on the militia to withdraw their forces from government and security institutions “immediately and unconditionally”.
It also urges the Huthis to “engage in good faith in the UN-brokered negotiations” led by special envoy Jamal Benomar and to release Hadi, his Prime Minister Khalid Bahah, as well as other officials and activists under de facto house arrest or in detention.
According to Western diplomats, Russia, which is already under US and European sanctions over its annexation of Crimea and backing of rebels in eastern Ukraine, was reluctant to vote for sanctions.
The text marks the Security Council’s first resolution on Yemen since the Huthis ousted the government and parliament, in a move the United States and Gulf Arab countries have described as a “coup”.
At a Riyadh meeting of the Gulf Cooperation

Council on Saturday, Yemen’s neighbours urged the UN to evoke Chapter Seven of the United Nations Charter, which allows for economic and military pressure to enforce Council decisions.
They said they themselves would act if the rival factions fail to resolve their differences, without elaborating.
Huthi spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam, quoted on Sunday by the official Saba news agency which is under the militia’s control, insisted that “the Yemeni people won’t cede power in the face of threats.”