March 26, 2015

The Kingdom Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait today issued the following statement:

We have followed, with great pain and concern, the dangerous developments in the Republic of Yemen, which shook the security stability of Yemen

as a consequences of the coup d’etat committed by the Houthi Militias against the legitimate authority in Yemen.  This represents a grave threat to the security and stability of the region and a threat to international peace and security.  Our nations have strived to exert all efforts to stand by the fraternal people of Yemen in their efforts to restore their security and stability through a political process based on the GCC Initiative and its implementation mechanisms, to protect Yemen and the region from the negative consequences of this usurpation of power.

It is based on the above that the GCC countries responded to the request by His Excellency President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi of Yemen dated March 7, 2015 to convene a conference in Riyadh under the auspices of the GCC, with the participation of all Yemeni political factions seeking to preserve security and stability in Yemen.

At the time when the preparations were being made for the convening of this conference, we received a letter from President Hadi, and the following is the text of the letter:

Dear Brother, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, King of the brotherly Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Dear Brother, His Highness, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nahayan, President of The brotherly United Arab Emirates

Dear Brother, His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, King of the brotherly Kingdom of Bahrain

Dear Brother, His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, Sultan of the brotherly Sultanate of Oman

Dear Brother, His Highness Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Emir of the brotherly State of Kuwait

Dear Brother, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of the brotherly State of Qatar

Dear Brothers,

I write to you this letter with sadness and my heart is overwhelmed with great sadness and sorrow as a result of the security situations in the Republic of Yemen, the result of the enormous deterioration and the great danger due to the ongoing aggressive actions and the continuing violence against the sovereignty of Yemen that the Houthi coup orchestrators are undertaking and continuing to undertake with the intention to disintegrate Yemen and to strike its security and stability.

We have exerted all possible efforts to end these Houthi criminal sinful aggressions against our people, which left deep wounds in each Yemeni home. We sought with all our power to reach a peaceful solution to get Yemen out from a dark tunnel that the coup Houthi orchestrators put the country in, to safeguard our people from the fire of chaos and destruction, and to avoid implicating the country into a war that will burn the entire land that the coup orchestrators sought and continue to seek its ignition.

But our all peaceful efforts and our continuous determination faced a categorical refusal by the Houthi coup orchestrators who are continuing their transgressions to bring the remaining region and especially in the south under their control, which led the Republic of Yemen to go through the most difficult conditions in its history. The people of Yemen, who abide by our Islamic religion, have never witnessed such a similar sinful aggression, which is refuted by Islamic principles and traditions as well as International charters. This sinful aggression executed by internal Militias supported by forces from within who sold their conscience and are only concerned about their self-interests, and also supported by regional powers, whose objective is to dominate this country and to make it a base for their dominance in the region. This threat is not only menacing the security of Yemen only, but also the security of the entire region as well as the world peace and security.

In the face of these serious developments, and the keenness on Yemen's security and stability and the security of the region and international peace and security, and the protection of the brave Yemeni people who pay a heavy price as a result of the Houthi coup, I am out of my constitutional responsibilities that necessitate that I have to take care of people and the preservation of the nation's unity, independence and territorial integrity, and taking into account what have been and being carried out by Houthi militias of aggressive acts, the most recent one is monitoring military convoys destined to attack  Aden and seize it and the rest of the South, and the announcement of that criminal militias of their intentions to move militarily towards the south which was confirmed by the recent report of the special envoy of the Secretary-General of the United Nations submitted to the Security Council including the confirmation that the so-called Houthi Revolutionary Committee has issued an appeal for Public Mobilization in the military units controlled by it in the north in preparation for the campaign on the south, and the report also confirmed that the Houthis are continuing their occupation of government institutions and expansion into new areas, despite repeated demands by the Security Council, and that the Air Force aircraft seized by the Houthis are continuing to fly over and bombarding the city of Aden, which is considered a serious unprecedented escalation.

And as the United Nations envoy's report has confirmed that the Houthis began to move now toward the south, Lahaj and Aden, and that fears spread of the exploitation of al-Qaeda of the current instability to provoke further chaos which makes the country slide toward more violent conflict and fragmentation, I appeal to you my brothers and your sisterly nations to stand - as you have accustomed us always- by the Yemeni people for the protection of Yemen, and I ask you, based on the principle of self-defense in Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations, and on the basis of the Charter of the Arab League and the treaty of joint Arab defense, to provide instant support by all necessary means, including military intervention to protect Yemen and its people from continuous Houthi aggression and deter the expected attack to occur at any hour on the city of Aden and the rest of the southern regions, and to help Yemen in the face of al-Qaeda and ISIS.

The Yemeni people will not forget the standing of their brothers by its side in these difficult circumstances and threats to it.

In conclusion, I assure that the Yemeni people's trust in Allah Almighty will never be shaken, and would remain committed to their national fundamentals imposed to make it dearly in order to maintain the pride and dignity of the nation and its sovereignty.

Abdrabu Mansur Hadi

March 24, 2015.

Emanating from our responsibilities for the brotherly people of Yemen and as a response to the contents of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi's letter to provide all instant necessary means and measures to protect Yemen and its people from aggression of Houthi militias backed by regional powers aimed at hegemony on Yemen and make it a base for influence in the region, making the threat not confined to Yemen's security, stability and sovereignty, but has become a comprehensive threat to the security of the region and international peace and security, in addition to his request for providing help for Yemen against terrorist organizations.

As the assaults affected also the territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and our countries have become facing a continuing threat to their security and stability due to the presence of heavy weapons and long and short range missiles outside the control of the legitimate authority, and due to these serious risks, and in the light of Houthi militias' non-response to the repeated warnings by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Arab States and the Security Council in addition to the continuing abuses of international law and international norms by Houthi militias and their continuation of armed buildup including heavy weapons and missiles on the borders of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and as a result of their carrying out recently a large military maneuvers with live ammunition near the border of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, during which all kinds of medium and heavy weapons, have been used, revealing the intentions of these Houthi militias in repeating their blatant aggression that it committed without any justification when attacked territory of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during November 2009, our nations have decided to respond to the request of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi of the Republic of Yemen to protect Yemen and its dear people from Houthi militias' aggression, which was and is still a tool in the hands of foreign powers that did not stop tampering with the security and stability of brotherly Yemen.

We pray to Allah Almighty to preserve Yemen and its brotherly people and protect it from seditions and foreign interference, which does not want the good neither for Yemen nor our countries, also praying for restoring security and stability to the dear people of Yemen."

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