(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The EU Tuesday urged all parties in Yemen to return to the negotiating table on the basis of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative and stressed that Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi remains the legitimate President of the country.
"We need to find with our partners in the Gulf a way for all to pull themselves off from the brink and resume negotiations on the basis of the existing parameters and that is the GCC initiative and its implementation mechanisms that was brokered by the UN," Ambassador Bettina Muscheidt, head of the EU Delegation in Yemen, told the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee during a debate on Yemen.
The other parameters, she said, are the comprehensive outcome of the national dialogue conference and the peace and national partnership conference of last year.
"All parties must be represented at the dialogue. The venue will also be crucial as this will influence the legitimacy of the dialogue. This dialogue must be preceded by a ceasefire. GCC countries should be very strongly involved to support this.," said Muscheidt.
She said the Houthis cannot control Yemen, noting that "they themselves don't have a clear objective what they want to achieve. Their aim remains power-sharing and resource-sharing." The EU official stressed that Hadi "remains the legitimate President" and added that "we will plead with the parties a return to negotiations," and stressed that there can only be a political solution to the conflict in Yemen.
She said the Operation Decisive Storm was launched on 26 March because Saudi Arabia felt that the red-lines have been crossed by the Houthi advances.
Andrej Plenkovic, vice-chair of the committee, who chaired the meeting, said the situation in Yemen "requires a serious and strong attention of the EU." He said that the Saudi-led coalition followed calls by the legitimate President Hadi since the Houthi militias were tightening their grip on Aden.
Head of the EP Delegation for the Arab Peninsula, Alliot- Marie Michele, described the situation in Yemen as "quite dramatic." "This country can play a significant role in the region and have an impact on the Middle East," said Michele a former French defence minister.
She said Saudi Arabia is being supported by the international community and by Arab countries which are opposed to the taking-over of the country by the Houthi militias.
Michele asked whether the EU "really has a role to play in Yemen and does it have a vision what the country needs." British MEP Afzal Khan, blamed the Houthi rebels for the ongoing crisis in Yemen.
"The Houthis need to understand the dangerous path they are taking Yemen to. Iran clearly has a role in reigning the Houthis," he said and welcomed the role the Turkish and Pakistani governments are playing to encourage Iran to play this positive role.
"The Houthis have been playing a dual track both on the military side and also on the political side. They need to stop the military side and move to the political side," he said.
Khan said the EU needs to play a much more positive role in this and to build an international consensus through the UN to disarm the Houthis.
"We cannot allow any force to remove a legitimate government," he underlined.
Another British MEP Richard Howitt noted that the situation in Yemen has deteriorated so rapidly that no one expected.
Referring to past initiatives and conferences to resolve the Yemen crisis, he said "we should try to understand where we failed and how we failed." The UN Security Council is set to vote later today on a resolution drafted by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states seeking to impose an arms embargo on Yemeni Houthis.
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