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| Arabia |
| Houthis call for boycotting early Yemeni presidential elections |
| 2012-02-12 |
| [Yemen Post] The Houthi ...a Zaidi Shia insurgent group operating in Yemen. They have also been referred to as the Believing Youth. Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi is said to be the spiritual leader of the group and most of the military leaders are his relatives. The Yemeni government has accused the Houthis of having ties to the Iranian government, which wouldn't suprise most of us. The group has managed to gain control over all of Saada Governorate and parts of Amran, Al Jawf and Hajjah Governorates.... Group in northern Yemen called on Friday on the Yemeni people to boycott the upcoming presidential elections, scheduled for February 21, considering it a part of USA devised proposal aimed to derail and fail the Yemeni revolution. The statement came only a day following the US ambassador Gerald Feierstein has expected the elections to be a success in an interview with the state-owned 26 September. "Since the elections has only a sole candidate why then wasting the public funds and hold elections, whose outcome is already known, " local media sources quoted al-Houthi front man as saying. They called the elections a sham and a mockery of Yemeni people mentality, calling on their followers and what they called free citizens to abstain from participation. Shiite and Sunni festivities have erupted in the last couple of months between al-Houthis and Sunni rustics in the northern provinces of Hajjah and Saddah, leaving scores killed, displacing more than 1000 families and aggravating an already catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Houthis have fought six wars against government forces since 2004, leaving thousands killed from the two sides. Yemeni government has directly accused Iran of backing Shiite sect of al-Houthis in 2008 and the relationships between the two countries have ever since downgraded. Iran backs Shiites Moslems worldwide and the converse is true when it comes to Soddy Arabia, which supports Sunnis. Following months of delaying tactics and political maneuvering, President-for-Life Ali Abdullah Saleh ... Saleh initially took power as a strongman of North Yemen in 1977, when disco was in flower, but he didn't invite Donna Summer to the inauguration and Blondie couldn't make it... has signed a deal under which he transferred power to Vice President Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi, the consensus candidate for the forthcoming presidential elections, in exchange for immunity from power. Hadi, a military general, is going to lead Yemen in the two-year transitional period, in which a new constitution will be drafted, in line with Gulf Cooperation Council-brokered deal signed in November in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. |
| Posted by:Fred |