Houthis Ban U.N. Special Envoy From Yemen due to Bias

Al-Sabah Al-Yemeni | agencies |

A top official in Houthi movement said the United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen was banned from returning to the country, accusing him of bias, according to the Houthi’s Al Massira TV channel.

Saleh al-Samad, chief of a political council backed by the Houthis who control large areas of Yemen including the capital Sana’a, was also quoted on Twitter as saying that if the U.N. chose another envoy, “he should respect the people’s will”.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam, referring to that tweet, said the U.N.’s envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, had abandoned his neutrality and did not respect U.N. resolutions.

Abdul-Salam gave no further details and did not say which U.N. resolutions he was referring to. The Houthi’s decision comes two weeks after the U.N. urged authorities in Sana’a to investigate a “grave attack” on Ahmed’s convoy as it traveled from the airport to the U.N. compound. The Houthi-run Saba news agency denied any such attack.