Today, the Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Member States concluded their 41st GCC Extraordinary Ministerial Meeting in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The meeting issued the following statement:
"Today, the GCC Ministerial Council held its 41st extraordinary ministerial meeting, chaired by Qatari Foreign Minister Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, the Chairman of the GCC current session. The following member state representatives took part: Prince Abdulaziz bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan; Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khalid Al-Hamad Al-Sabah; Bahraini Foreign Minister Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmad Al Khalifa; Omani Minister of Foreign Affairs Yousef bin Alawi bin Abdullah and GCC Secretary General Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al-Zayani.
The Ministerial Council followed the dangerous developments in Yemen and the outcome of the unfortunate incidents and terrorist operations, carried out by the Houthis and their supporters, which resulted in undermining the political process in the Republic of Yemen based on the GGC initiative and its executive mechanism and the failure of the comprehensive national dialogue outputs and crippling the peaceful transitional process in a way that contradicts the best interests of Yemen and its people.
Recalling the decisions taken by the GCC leaders at the 35th session of the GCC Supreme Council held in Doha, December 2014, and the statement issued by the GCC Ministers of Interior at a meeting held in Jeddah, in September 2014, the Ministerial Council expresses its continued support for the Yemeni people and strongly condemns these terrorist acts; including infringing on the constitutional legitimacy, storming the presidency palace, abducting Dr. Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, director of the Office of the President of the Republic of Yemen, who is also Secretary General of the National Dialogue Conference, and attempting to assassinate Prime Minister Khalid Mahfouz Bahah.
The council also condemns the use of violence by the Houthis against the state, its institutions and citizens in addition to their expansion at the expense of other areas and components of Yemen society, a step that undermines Yemen's security, stability and unity.
The GCC considers what happened in Sana'a on Tuesday, January 20, 2015, a coup against legitimacy. In the event that the Houthis withdraw from the presidential palace and the residences of the president and the prime minister, lift the siege of the presidential palace, release Dr. Mubarak, and normalize the security situation in Sana'a and return government institutions to state control. The GCC Ministerial Council will send an envoy of the GCC Secretary General to communicate with all political forces and components of Yemen in order to complete the implementation of the GCC initiative and its executive mechanism's provisions and outputs of a comprehensive national dialogue.
The GCC confirms that Yemen's security is an integral part of the GCC's national security and Yemen's stability and unity is a top priority for the GCC countries, stressing, in this regard, that the GCC will take the required measures to protect its member states' security, stability and vital interests in Yemen.
The GCC confirms its support for the constitutional legitimacy of Yemen represented in Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and rejects all actions taken to impose a status quo by force and try to change the components and nature of the Yemeni society, calling on the Houthis to stop the use of force, withdraw from all the regions under their control, hand over the seized weapons from the military and security institutions, and engage in the political process.
The council called upon all parties and political forces to put the interest of Yemen as top priority, work to complete the implementation of the political process, and avoid Yemen sliding further into chaos and violence, including increasing the suffering of the Yemeni people.
The Ministerial Council stresses the need to implement the Yemen-relevant resolutions from the U.N. Security Council, as what is happening in Yemen now represents a threat to international peace and security in the region and the whole world.
The Ministerial Council will continue following up the latest developments in Yemen."
