GCC condemns events in Yemen, urges Houthis to return seized institutions

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Ministerial Council on Wednesday urged Yemen's Houthis to give back to state the official institutions they had captured, leave the presidential palace and set free the Yemeni President.
The bloc's Foreign Ministers meeting in Riyadh today stressed in a final statement support to the Yemeni people and condemned "terrorist attacks, the last of which was trespassing constitutional legitimacy; besieging, and then breaking into the presidential palace and kidnapping Chief of the Presidential Staff and the Secretary General of the National Dialogue Conference Ahmad Awad Bin Mubarak." They also condemned the assassination attempt that targeted Prime Minister Eng. Khaled Mahfouz Bahah, and Houthis' use of violence against the state and its institutions, terrifying people, expanding in other Yemeni regions, which all pose a threat to the country's security, stability and unity.
According to the statement, the Ministerial Council had followed with deep concern the "terrorist acts by the Houthis and their supporters, and the ensued undermining of the political process in Yemen (based on the GCC Initiative and its executive mechanism), failing the output of the comprehensive national dialogue and hindering the peaceful transition, which all run against the higher interests of Yemen and its people." The GCC considered the Tuesday events in Sanaa "a coup against legitimacy" urging the Houthis to withdraw from the presidential palace, and the President's and the Premier's houses, removing the checkpoints on roads leading to them, in addition to releasing the Presidential Chief of Staff, and nationalizing the security conditions in the capital.
In case the Houthis respond positively to these demands, a GCC Secretary General's envoy will be dispatched to meet with all the Yemeni political power to discuss implementation of the rest of the Initiative, its executive mechanism and the output of the national dialogue, the Ministers said in the statement.
The bloc stressed that Yemen's security is part of the security of the GCC member states, and that the country's stability and unity is a top priority for the GCC.
The GCC member states also underlined the fact that they will take the necessary measures to protect their security, stability and their vital interests in Yemen.
The Ministerial Council emphasized support to the constitutional legitimacy in Yemen, represented by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, and utter rejection of measures taken to impose a status quo by force, and the attempts to change the components and the nature of the Yemeni society.
It also urged the Houthis to halt their use of force and withdraw from all the regions they had captured, hand over the arms they had seized from the military and security institutions and to get involved in the political process.
The GCC urged all the Yemeni political powers and parties to hold the country's higher interest above all, so that the country might not slide into more chaos.
Meanwhile, the statement underscored the necessity of the UNSC enforcing all its resolutions on Yemen, noting that "what is taking place in Yemen at present constitutes a threat to the international safety and security in the region and the world at large." The statement pointed out that the GCC Foreign Ministers council is considered in a continuous session to follow up developments.
Kuwait's First Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah attended the extraordinary GCC meeting.