Yemen’s Houthis Slam UK Foreign Secretary Over Hodeidah Comments

Comments from British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who warned that the peace process in Yemen’s Hodeidah could quickly collapse and insinuated that the Shi’ite Houthis weren’t meeting their commitments, sparked an angry reaction.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam accused Hunt of misrepresenting what was agreed to in Sweden back in December, saying that Hunt’s claim Hodeidah would be under neutral control was inaccurate. The deal, actually, called for it to be under the control of locals with UN observers.

Abdul-Salam also pointed out that the British government has been siding with Saudi Arabia on the war in Yemen against the Houthis, suggesting Hunt would not be an impartial judge of who is meeting obligations.

From an objective viewpoint it’s not clear either side has met its obligations on withdrawing from Hodeidah, which is why the UN brokered an additional round of talks recently to try to get the process restarted. This made some progress, but everything is still slow-going, and likely more talks will be called for.