Houthis reject UN proposed solutions in Yemen

Yemen’s Houthi militia on Saturday rejected a demand by UN Yemen Envoy Hans Grundberg to hold discussions with the Yemeni government to resolve knotty economic problems, especially the government’s punitive actions against Sanaa banks.

In a post on X, Hussein Al-Ezzi, the militia’s deputy foreign minister, said that Grundberg was informed that the Houthis would only take part in talks with the Yemeni government about implementing the UN-brokered road map to end the war in Yemen, undermining his efforts to end the country’s deepening economic divisions.

The UN Yemen envoy has asked the government and the Houthis to meet without preconditions to discuss financial issues and their effect on Yemen’s deteriorating humanitarian situation, his office said.

The envoy expressed sympathy for the Yemeni government’s anger over the Houthi attacks on oil terminals, which resulted in the cessation of oil exports. But he also cautioned that the government’s punitive measures against the banks in Sanaa would worsen the living conditions of Yemenis and potentially reignite the war.

The Houthis have prevented the circulation of banknotes printed by the Yemeni government, attacked oil terminals in government-controlled provinces, banned cooking gas imports from government-controlled Marib, and prohibited traders in areas they control from importing goods through Aden and other government ports, all in an effort to drive the Yemeni government into bankruptcy.

The government responded by directing banks and state bodies to relocate their offices from Sanaa to Aden, withdrawing old banknotes that were commonly used in Houthi areas, restricting the issuing or receiving of international transfers to authorized banks, and most recently, revoking the licenses of six banks in Sanaa.

Meanwhile, Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Sarea said on Friday evening that militia forces targeted the Chrysalis ship twice in the Red Sea and the Bab Al-Mandab Strait, using ballistic missiles and drones.