New government aimed at better serving Yemenis: Houthi leader

The leader of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement says the newly-formed National Salvation Government is aimed at boosting efforts to run the country’s domestic affairs and better serve the nation, saying everyone must work to pave the way for an eventual popular victory.

Abdul-Malik al-Houthi made the remarks on Tuesday on the occasion of the 49th anniversary of South Yemen’s independence from Britain in the 1960s.

“The formation of the National Salvation Government is of great importance as it will consolidate positions inside the country and efforts to provide service to the people,” he said, according to Yemen’s al-Masirah television. “Everyone should make efforts so the Yemeni people emerge victorious in the end.”

Houthi also urged the public to hold rallies in support of the new administration and ignore efforts made by certain parties to create division among the nation’s ranks.

Earlier on Tuesday, the new Yemeni government was sworn in after the Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies announced its formation.

The National Salvation Government is to replace the Supreme Political Council, which was set up earlier this year by Ansarullah and the General People’s Congress, the party of former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, to run the country’s affairs.

The new administration has vowed to help UN efforts to bring about peace in the country.

The Houthis took control of state affairs in 2014 after former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi resigned despite Ansarullah calls to review the decision, a move that created more chaos in a country already grappling with al-Qaeda terror threats.

Hadi then fled to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, before returning to the port city of Aden earlier this year.

The Houthis and the Yemeni army have also been defending Yemen against the deadly Saudi military campaign, which was launched in March 2015 with the aim of reinstalling Hadi, a close Riyadh ally.

Also on Tuesday, the head of the new government Abdul-Aziz bin Habtoor said the formation of the ruling structure was a vital step towards the arrangement of Yemen's internal affairs and dealing with the consequences of the Saudi aggression.

He asserted that the Saudi crimes against Yemeni people would not go unanswered.

Habtoor added the sheer number of the operational sorties conducted by the Saudi military since March 2015, namely 150,000, was a testament to the true nature of the Saudi aggression.

'A true salvation government'

In remarks made on the occasion of Yemen's independence day, Saleh Ali al-Sammad, the head of the former Supreme Political Council, said the current government was a “National Salvation Government in the real sense.”

“The government should present a national and exceptional plan in tandem with [both] the Yemeni men’s struggle on the battlefield against Saudi invaders and the exigencies of the new era and people’s demands,” he added.

The invaders, he said, had recruited large numbers of troops from other countries as well as mercenaries with the Blackwater security contractor and the Sudan-based Janjaweed militia among others in order to further their expansionist ambitions, Sammad noted.

“The goal pursued by the Saudi invaders is for the people to accept their leadership, but the Yemeni people would never brook such a situation.”

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