Yemen’s Saleh says Riyadh tried to bribe him into anti-Houthi alliance
Yemen’s former president Ali Abdullah Saleh says Saudi officials tried to bribe him in a failed attempt to secure his alliance against the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
The former Saudi ambassador to Yemen "came to me with a message from the kingdom asking me to stand by (Yemen’s former fugitive president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour) Hadi… against the Houthis,” Saleh said in an interview with al-Mayadeen television channel aired on Friday, adding, "They told us 'we'll pay you millions of dollars if you ally with us.’"
Saleh stated that he rejected the offer to show his support for “national unity for all political forces in Yemen."
The former Yemeni president confirmed that there were some “administrative” differences between his political party and the Houthis during his time in power, but vowed that he will not “let go” of Ansarullah fighters despite the disagreements.
"Our difference with the Houthis... was administrative, not ideological," Saleh stated.
He lashed out at the Saudi regime for stirring up “sedition” in Yemen, saying Riyadh’s “hatred” for Ansarullah fighters is fuelled by “sectarian” bias.
Saleh also stressed that Riyadh’s attempts to restore power to Hadi would end up in failure, because he "is over."
Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 -- without a UN mandate -- in a bid to undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement and restore power to Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The United Nations says since March, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 others injured due to the conflict in Yemen. However, according to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of about 4,000 Yemeni people.
Earlier this week, scores of NGOs and civil societies submitted a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, calling on him to address the “dire” humanitarian situation in the war-ridden country.
“The [Yemeni] crisis has reached dire proportions. According to the UN’s own estimates about nine million Yemenis, over a third of the population, are believed to be in dire need of humanitarian assistance, and hundreds of thousands have become internal refugees,” the letter read.
The undersigned called on the UN chief “to spare no effort to bring the warring sides in Yemen to implement an immediate ceasefire for humanitarian and political purposes.”
FNR/AS/MHB
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