YEMEN DIALOGUE CONF. TO START IN RIYADH ON MAY 17: HADI

Riyadh, 16 Rajab 1436/5 May 2015 (MINA) – Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, who is currently in Saudi capital Riyadh, has scheduled May 17 for a “national dialogue” conference between Yemen’s political groups, a presidential source said on Monday.

“Hadi has called on Yemeni political forces to take part in dialogue aimed at changing the country’s status quo,” the source, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA).

He, however, did not specify whether Hadi’s invitation has been extended to the Houthi militant group and allied former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Fractious Yemen has remained in turmoil since last September, when the Houthis overran capital Sanaa, from which they have since sought to extend their influence to other parts of the country.

On March 25, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies began an extensive military campaign against Houthi positions across Yemen.

Riyadh says its campaign comes in response to Hadi’s appeals for military intervention against the Houthis.

Hadi, who is backed by the Sunni-majority Gulf states, fled to Riyadh in March after Houthi forces attacked his residence in the southern port city of Aden, from which he had hoped to reinstate his beleaguered presidency.

The Houthis, for their part, have denounced the air offensive as an unwarranted ” Saudi-American aggression” againstYemen.

Some Gulf States accuse Shiite Iran of supporting Yemen’s Houthi insurgency. (T/P001/R04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)