PM says Houthis rejected govt offer to cooperate together against coronavirus

RIYADH- SABA

Yemen’s Prime Minister said Houthi rebels have rejected repeated offers by the government to cooperate together against coronavirus, a health crisis hitting across the battle frontlines in the country.

In a phone conversation with Niels Annen the German Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office on Tuesday, Maeen Abdulmalik said the government had agreed to a proposal by the UN peace mediator Martin Griffiths in this regard but the militia wouldn’t budge.

The militia instead escalated the military action in disregard to the disastrous situation they had triggered through the September 2014 seizure of power and the following war, he said.

The two officials discussed the outcomes of the virtual pledging conference which Saudi Arabia and the UN organized to raise funds for the insurgency-torn Yemen.

Abdulmalik appreciated the German support to the political process in Yemen and contribution to relief aid efforts particularly by pledging €126 million in today’s conference.