Ansarullah movement warns of plans to federalize Yemen

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement warns of attempts to transform the country into a federal state of six nations, adding that the government should abide by its commitments under a peace deal.

“There are attempts to go round the structure of the old Yemeni state,” the Houthi group said in a statement on Wednesday.

“Some people try to impose the six regions in the new constitution in a bid to go round the peace and partnership agreement,” it said.

The movement said that the government has to show its commitment to the peace deal signed with Ansarullah fighters in September.

It said Yemenis hope the peace agreement could lead to the formation of an anti-corruption government that would not deviate from its right political path.

Ansarullah stressed that any appointment or decision in this regard must be made in the framework of the peace deal, adding that the six-nation plan is a coup against the pact and a clear breach of the agreement.

The movement said that the Yemeni people hope the new government could meet the current needs of the nation.

In recent months, Yemen has been grappling with a severe political crisis between the central government and Ansarullah revolutionaries, also known as Houthis.

The Ansarullah activists, who played a major role in the ouster of the country’s longtime dictator Ali Abdullah Saleh have been staging demonstrations in Sana’a for nearly two months, demanding the government’s ouster over corruption and marginalization of the country’s Shia community.

In September, Ansarullah revolutionary fighters gained control of Sana’a following a four-day battle with army forces loyal to General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, the half-brother of the former dictator.

In the same month, Ansarullah fighters and President Hadi’s government inked a UN-backed ceasefire deal that called for the withdrawal of the revolutionaries from the capital once a neutral prime minister was picked.

Also on November 2, Yemen’s main political parties, including the Ansarullah revolutionaries, signed a UN-brokered truce deal in a bid to put an end to the country’s political turmoil.