Qatar's mediation effort came as supporters of the 2012-ousted president battled Houthi militias for a fourth day in Sanaa, finally claiming a heavier scale of authority – Photo compiled by Egypt Today/Mohamed Zain
CAIRO – 3 December 2017: Press reported that Qatar's emir, Tamim bin Hamad attempted to mediate to end the tension that sparked between the two conflicting sides in Sanaa, an attempt that former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh refused.
Logic may make one assume that Qatar, as an Arab country, is trying to mediate to save Yemen from the brink of destruction, however, Houthis are the ones that Qatar tries to save from Saleh's supporters.
Qatari Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, admitted his country's interference in the ongoing conflict in Yemen; "Qatar offered former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh $10 billion on condition that he must stop chasing the Houthis," the Qatari minister said to the press during his participation at the third edition of the Rome MED - Mediterranean Dialogues.
The mediation effort came as supporters of the 2012-ousted president battled Houthi militias for a fourth day in Sanaa, until finally Saleh announced that Yemen's parliament, dominated by his party, was the only legitimate power in the country. Saleh then said he is ready for talks with the Saudi-led coalition, a move that the coalition welcomed.
In a statement carried by the Saudi-owned Al-Hadath channel, the coalition said it was “confident of the will of the leaders and sons” of Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) party to return to Arab fold.
Qatar's stand in the recent development in Yemen brings back a mediation attempt that Qatar led between Saleh's supporters and Houthi militias during a war that could have ended the Houthi rebellion once and for all except for Qatar's interference to save them.
UAE's Minister of State Anwar Gargash wrote on Twitter that the Qatari mediation to save Houthi militias is "documented", he said it will not work because it is against the Yemeni people's will, which looks forward to his Arabic milieu's nature.
The fighting between the two sides eased in the afternoon as Saleh supporters gained the upper hand on Sunday, but intermittent gunfire was being heard.
There was no immediate word on casualties. Both sides have reported that at least 16 people were killed in the fighting, which began on Wednesday when armed Houthi fighters entered the main mosque complex, firing RPGs and grenades, Reuters reported.
Saleh’s GPC party accused the Houthis of failing to honor a truce and said in a statement on its website that the Houthis bear responsibility for dragging the country into a civil war.
Yemen’s civil war has killed more than 10,000 people since 2015, displaced more than two million people, caused a cholera outbreak infecting nearly one million people and put the country on the brink of famine, thanks to a conflict that Qatar has been fueling all in favor of the Qatari regime's agenda.
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