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Sanaa (AFP) – The Shiite rebel leader of the Huthi in Yemen on Saturday called for "resistance" as peace talks with the government, under the auspices of the UN, collapsed. after the insurgents stayed away.
"Our choice is steadfastness and resistance to aggression on all fronts," rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Huthi said in a provocative speech.
"I call today the free and honorable people of Yemen to surrender to the fronts … We must act on all fronts to recruit for our defense."
Huthi's representatives were unable to stand for talks in Geneva this week, prompting UN envoy Martin Griffiths to cancel attempts at talks.
In his first reaction to the collapse of talks, Huthi said he had not negotiated with "mercenaries" and "traitors", referring to the government.
"The mercenary delegation … in Geneva does not even make its own decisions," he said in a speech broadcast on the Al-Masirah TV channel.
"If the delegation … does not have the same decision in its personal affairs, how can it go to Geneva and conduct negotiations on key issues, including finding a solution to their aggression?"
The peace talks, originally scheduled to open on Thursday, would have been the first official negotiating effort between the government and the rebels since 2014.
But Huthis, backed by Iran, refused to take off from the rebel-held capital for Geneva unless the UN fulfills a list of conditions, which implied a safe return to Sanaa for their delegation. .
They accused the Saudi-led coalition of supporting the Yemeni government's planning to block their delegation in Djibouti, where their plane was scheduled to make a stopover en route to Geneva.
While rebels control Sanaa, the coalition controls Yemen's airspace.
The Huthis had hinted that they feared a repeat of 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait were halted and a rebel delegation found stranded in Oman for three months due to 39, an air blockade.
Nearly 10,000 people have been killed since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies joined the government's fight against the Huthis, triggering what the UN calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world.
