Yemeni vice president lauds GCC support

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Wednesday 20 Jan 2016 - 12:54 Makkah mean time-10-4-1437 Abu Dhabi, (IINA) - Yemeni Vice President and Prime Minister Khalid Mahfouz Bahah has hailed on Tuesday the relations between Yemen and the GCC states, citing the active role of the Arab coalition, led by Saudi Arabia to back Yemen's legitimate government, WAM reported. During a press conference here at the Emirates Palace, Bahah said: "Yemen passes through a critical moment and should not be left alone to face the challenge posed by the Houthi militias and the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh’s group, who kill civilians with impunity, murder Yemeni officials and carry out subversive activities, with the aim to destroy the state's infrastructure". "There is a need for a new vision and roadmap to strengthen relations with Yemen's sisterly states in the Gulf", he added. “This vision evolves merging of Yemen in the GCC, or rehabilitating it, which could be a better solution in the current phase." He stressed that the rehabilitation of Yemen is through raising the educational and health levels. Bahah noted that the existence of a strong government would help solve all the difficulties with the support of the sisterly states and the coalition states, notably, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Regarding the current military operations, he pointed out that the coalition forces bomb military positions precisely and avoid civilian casualties. Bahah applauded the historic stance of Custodian of The Two Holy Mosques King Salman and all the leaders of the coalition member states in their response to Yemen's request to intervene. He said Yemen is currently facing the notorious Houthi militias that should be uprooted to ensure stability and peace. Bahah said the Houthi militias and Saleh group had tampered with the financial system in Yemen, citing that they withdrew 1.5 trillion Yemeni Rials from the central bank in Sana'a at the end of 2015 at the expense of the government, reducing the foreign deposit from $5.2 billion to $2.3 billion. The foreign reserves include the Saudi deposit worth $1 billion. AG/IINA