YEMEN OFFICIAL TERMS HOUTHIS ACCEPTANCE OF SIX CONDITIONS AS DECEPTIVE

SAADA, Feb. 04 (Saba)- A Yemeni official has said that the Houthis' initiative accepting the government six points for halting military operations in the north was false and deceptive.

"We have been bitten six times; If we are to be bitten for a seventh time, then we would deserve to reap what we sow", the governor of the northern Yemeni province of Saada Hassan Manna made it clear.

In an interview with leading pan-Arab daily Al-Sharq al-Awsat published last Wednesday, Manna said also that al-Qaeda’s presence In the province is inconsiderable.

Manna noted that there is no certain information about the fate of a German family of five and a Briton man kidnapped in Saada in June. But he confirmed that his country’s authorities are continuing to search for them.

On 14 June, the Yemeni government accused the Houthi rebels of kidnapping a group of nine foreigners including a German family of two parents and their three kids, a Briton, a South Korean woman and two German nurses.

Two days after the kidnapping, three bodies were found and identified as the two German nurses and the South Korean.

The Yemeni official highlighted the humanitarian situation inside Saada is bad; noting there are 250,000 displaced people there due to the fight that erupted since August between government troops and the Houthi rebels.

Manna said that more than 1,500 unarmed citizens were killed by the rebels since August.

‘’On the whole, the situation is now good in terms of availability of all aid and foodstuffs to the displaced people, and whenever there is shortage of any supplies, it is addressed on time’’, he explained.

YA