Yemen presidential council chief warns weapons outside state authority fuel extremism

ISTANBUL 

Yemen’s Presidential Leadership Council Chairman Rashad al-Alimi warned on Monday that the presence of weapons outside state authority fuels extremism.

The remarks were made during his meeting in the Saudi capital Riyadh with Tobias Tunkel, Germany’s Commissioner for the Middle East, Near East and North Africa, and German Ambassador to Yemen, Thomas Schneider, the state news agency Saba reported.

Alimi praised Germany’s “support for Yemen, its unity, and stability,” and its “appreciated contributions to the humanitarian response plan as one of the largest European donors.”

“Any weapons outside the state control constitute an ideal environment for the growth of extremist groups,” he said.

“Security chaos also creates grey areas in which militias of all kinds intersect with the objectives of terrorist organizations,” Alimi added.

Al-Qaeda is active in Yemen, while the Houthi group has controlled several provinces since 2014, in a country suffering from instability and the widespread proliferation of weapons outside state institutions.

During the meeting, Alimi reviewed “the local situation following the success of the process of taking over military camps” from the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Saba said.

He said the process “represented a corrective measure aimed at unifying security and military decision-making and preventing the country from sliding into chaos.”

“Any attempt to expand hotspots of tension or create new platforms threatening the security of neighboring countries or maritime passages is not merely a local gamble, but a wager on global energy security and supply chains, and a real threat to international peace and security.”

The STC announced its dissolution on Friday after a failed attempt in December to seize control of eastern provinces and push for separation from northern Yemen.

The dissolution was widely welcomed in Yemen and Saudi Arabia, particularly after weeks of clashes that erupted in early December between council forces and government troops backed by the coalition.

The STC has long pushed for the secession of southern Yemen, arguing that successive governments have marginalized the region politically and economically. Yemeni authorities reject the claim and insist on preserving the country’s territorial unity.

North and South Yemen were unified on May 22, 1990, forming the Republic of Yemen.