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Ethiopian Migrants Plan Taking Houthis to ICC

Houthis in Sanaa. (Reuters file photo)
Houthis in Sanaa. (Reuters file photo)
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Ethiopian Migrants Plan Taking Houthis to ICC

Houthis in Sanaa. (Reuters file photo)
Houthis in Sanaa. (Reuters file photo)

Ethiopian activists in Yemen revealed that a team of lawyers has been hired to file a lawsuit against Houthi leaders at the International Criminal Court in pursuit of justice for the hundreds of African migrants killed in a fire at a detention center in the Houthi-run capital, Sanaa.

“The crime that the Houthi group committed on March 7 against hundreds of migrants will not be subject to the statute of limitations, justice will be served, and they will all pay the price of their crime,” representatives of the Ethiopian community in Sanaa told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Speaking under conditions of anonymity, the representatives reaffirmed that dozens of migrants are protesting in front of the offices of the UN refugee agency in Sanaa.

Despite Houthis threatening them with meeting the same fate as the fire victims, protestors have continued to demonstrate for two weeks in a row.

“Last Thursday, Houthis assaulted some refugees and kidnapped others who participated in the demonstrations denouncing the repeated crimes and attacks staged by the Iran-backed militias,” a Sanaa-based Ethiopian activist told Asharq Al-Awsat.

Dozens of Ethiopian migrants have organized a wave of demonstrations across Sanaa to reject the Houthi narrative of the crime and affirm their demands to expose and punish the perpetrators who set the center ablaze.

Houthis are accused of burning down the center after the migrants having refused to join their ranks.

Demonstrators also urged Houthis to disclose the names of those who died in the fire and release information about the whereabouts of those injured in the fire.

They also urged for the Iran-backed militia to allow giving the victims a proper burial.

Houthis have tried to pay hush money to the relatives of the victims, offering $150 as a down payment for each family. They also promised the victims’ dependents valuable support.

More so, the group has actively sought to conceal details about the crime, activists complained.

Ethiopian migrants are also demanding an end to international silence against the rampant crimes carried out by Houthis.

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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
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Cyprus Can Help Rid Syria of Chemical Weapons, Search for its Missing, Says Top Diplomat

FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah
FILE PHOTO: A UN chemical weapons expert, wearing a gas mask, holds a plastic bag containing samples from one of the sites of an alleged chemical weapons attack in the Ain Tarma neighborhood of Damascus August 29, 2013. REUTERS/Mohamed Abdullah

Cyprus stands ready to help eliminate Syria’s remaining chemical weapons stockpiles and to support a search for people whose fate remains unknown after more than a decade of war, the top Cypriot diplomat said Saturday.

Foreign Minister Constantinos Kombos said Cyprus’ offer is grounded on its own past experience both with helping rid Syria of chemical weapons 11 years ago and its own ongoing, decades-old search for hundreds of people who disappeared amid fighting between Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriots in the 1960s and a 1974 Turkish invasion, The AP reported.

Cyprus in 2013 hosted the support base of a mission jointly run by the United Nations and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) to remove and dispose of Syria's chemical weapons.

“As a neighboring country located just 65 miles from Syria, Cyprus has a vested interest in Syria’s future. Developments there will directly impact Cyprus, particularly in terms of potential new migratory flows and the risks of terrorism and extremism,” Kombos told The AP in written replies to questions.

Kombos said there are “profound concerns” among his counterparts across the region over Syria’s future security, especially regarding a possible resurgence of extremist groups like ISIS in a fragmented and polarized society.

“This is particularly critical in light of potential social and demographic engineering disguised as “security” arrangements, which could further destabilize the country,” Kombos said.

The diplomat also pointed to the recent proliferation of narcotics production like the stimulant Captagon that is interconnected with smuggling networks involved in people and arms trafficking.

Kombos said ongoing attacks against Syria’s Kurds must stop immediately, given the role that Kurdish forces have played in combating extremist forces like the ISIS group in the past decade.

Saleh Muslim, a member of the Kurdish Presidential Council, said in an interview that the Kurds primarily seek “equality” enshrined in rights accorded to all in any democracy.

He said a future form of governance could accord autonomy to the Kurds under some kind of federal structure.

“But the important thing is to have democratic rights for all the Syrians and including the Kurdish people,” he said.

Muslim warned that the Kurdish-majority city of Kobani, near Syria’s border with Türkiye, is in “very big danger” of falling into the hands of Turkish-backed forces, and accused Türkiye of trying to occupy it.

Kombos said the international community needs to ensure that the influence Türkiye is trying to exert in Syria is “not going to create an even worse situation than there already is.”

“Whatever the future landscape in Syria, it will have a direct and far-reaching impact on the region, the European Union and the broader international community,” Kombos said.