Ahmed Saleh, the eldest son of late former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, described UN sanctions against him as “unjust”, in his first official response to a recent decision by the Security Council to extend the sanctions.
Although Saleh's son’s statement was mainly devoted to thanking participants in the campaign that called for lifting the sanctions, it carried other concealed message that he was seeking to succeed his father to lead the General People’s Congress party and to join the Yemeni legitimate authority and the Arab Coalition in the battle against of the Houthi rebels.
Ahmed vowed to follow his father’s path, saying: “The right choice for Yemen is to assume its role alongside its brothers and neighbors in the region and the world through positive partnership and effective brotherly cooperation.”
Commenting on the UN decision to extend the sanctions against him, he said: “Everyone knows for sure that [sanctions] were not based on any fair criteria. They were imposed under Chapter VII of the sanctions, in response to the wishes of the political conspiracies and abuse.”
The Houthi militia launched a sharp attack that included harsh insults to the former United Nations envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in response to his recent briefing to the UN Security Council at the end of his international mission.
The governor of state-institutions that are currently under Houthi control in Sanaa and other provinces, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, described the envoy as the “nightmare of the United Nations.”
On his Twitter account, al-Houthi accused Ould Cheikh Ahmed of committing “major sins” and legalizing an “economic war” against his people.
In his briefing to the Security Council, Ould Sheikh Ahmed said the pro-Iranian group has refused, at the last minute of the Kuwait negotiations meeting in 2016, to sign a comprehensive agreement to achieve peace in Yemen.
The UN envoy went on to say that the Houthi rebels were not ready for peace and represented a fundamental dilemma in reaching a consensual solution.
