(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen said Monday Saudi-led Operation Decisive Storm "was necessary to protect the Yemeni people from a dark tunnel," and save the country.
The majority of the Yemeni people understand the military operations, launched on March 26, as well as positions of all Arab and Muslim countries, and friends to save Yemen, Yaseen told a news conference at the Yemeni embassy.
"We are pursuing militias which change their positions on the ground very quickly and are thirsty for destruction and killing of innocent civilians, namely in densly areas, and create problems and strike randomly with the objective of blaming the Decision Storm," he said.
The Houthi militias are striking civilians at the same time of the airstrikes launched by the coalition, he said.
Yaseen said Kuwait was one of the biggest supporters of Yemen, contributing to construction of schools, hospitals and infrastructure projects.
Kuwait has been "actively" participating in Decisive Storm, he said, coupled with humanitarian supplies to the needy in different parts of Yemen, he said.
Yaseen, who arrived in Kuwait yesterday, met earlier today with Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah.
Asked why the Iranian proposal to mediate was rejected, Yaseen said the proposal came too late and the Iranian stance was ambiguous.
"Yemen's conditions for dialogue are clear. The Houthi militia and the troops loyal to (ousted president) Ali Abdullah Saleh must accept all relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council before the elapse of the set ultimatum," the foreign minister reminded.
On the Arab Marshall Plan for Yemen, he said the donor countries, on top of which are the GCC member states, had already set aside USD eight billion for the post-conflict reconstruction process.
"Preparations are underway for another session of the friends of Yemen conference. The previous sessions resulted in pledges of USD 10 billion to the reconstruction process which should follow the completion of the political process," Yaseen noted.
He named Yemen's development project after King Salman bin Abdulaziz, of Saudi Arabia, in appreciation of the King's donation of USD 274 million to the emergency aid for the Yemeni people.
"This will be a mega socio-economic development project to which all the GCC states will contribute," he said, noting that the Yemeni people suffered from poor infrastructure over the last 33 years due to the deposed corrupt regime.
The minister expected that the Operation Decisive Storm to achieve its set targets and come to an end soon.
"Since 2011, we have been working with the GCC states to reach a political solution to the crisis in Yemen. We held several rounds of the national dialogue based on the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism.
"We offered painful concessions to reach the Agreement on Peace and Partnership with a view to warding off the then looming specter of war, but all to no avail.
"The deal gave the Houthis more than what they deserve but they stubbornly dug their heels in and resorted to the power politics," Yaseen explained.
He affirmed that his government is working on a roadmap for political solution that starts with an end to the current hostilities.
"The top priority now is to establish safe havens to ensure provision of essential services, including food and medical supplies for the Yemeni citizens," he went on.
Yaseen refuted the misconception that the Houthis control Yemen, affirming that they only control 30-35 percent of the country but they try to make a media fuss by shelling the densely-populated areas.
He added that the air attacks of the coalition focus on the specific targets, such as the camps of the Houthi rebels and the troops loyal to Ali Abdullah Saleh as well as their arms caches.
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