Kuwait's Amir warns Houthis pose regional threat

SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: HH the Amir of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah told an Arab summit in Egypt that Houthi fighters in Yemen posed a threat to the region, as Saudi Arabia led a military operation against them. "Rapid developments underway in Yemen pose a threat to our security," said Sheikh Sabah said.

Sheikh Sabah was addressing the inaugural session of the 26th Arab Summit yesterday, stressing Arab nations must collectively face challenges, namely "terrorism and its annihilating ideas" and urged warring Yemeni parties to adhere to the GCC initiatives aimed at resorting peace and security to the crisis-stricken nation. "We have to face the challenges with collective efforts, solid unity of ranks with negligence to divisions and differences. Such efforts should be within the framework of joint Arab action that may preserve our territorial security and meet our peoples' aspirations," he said. "Terrorism and its annihilating ideas, delinquent approach, rogue ideology and blatant acts are some of the most eminent challenges that we, along with the whole world, are facing."

 HH the Amir said rapid developments taking place in this country "have posed a threat to our security due to the Houthi militias' continuing takeover of legitimacy and key state installations, followed with attacks and threats to the territories of sisterly Saudi Arabia and states of the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council." The Amir stressed that the Houthi militias' aggressive acts posed a threat to the region's security, stability and sanctity of the regional states and their peoples.

"My country Kuwait has declared support and full stance on the side of our brothers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and other brothers in the Arabian Gulf Cooperation Council regarding its right to defend itself," he said, noting that the solid Kuwaiti stance in support of Riyadh came after diplomatic efforts to resolve the Yemeni crisis reached a dead-end, adding that it followed a request by the Yemeni president for Arab and GCC support as well as in activation of the joint GCC and Arab defense treaties in addition to the UN charter that stipulates necessity of taking all necessary procedures to protect international peace and security.

Also in this respect, Sheikh Sabah called for immediate implementation of the Gulf initiative, with "abidance by results of the comprehensive national dialogue," noting the necessity that all the Yemeni parties respond to the call by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to hold a conference under the GCC umbrella "with the aim of safeguarding Yemen's security and sparing it being plunged into civil warfare where the greatest loser will be the Yemeni people." He also warned that such a dire eventuality will lead to destabilization of regional countries. "Sensing gravity of this catastrophe and hardships of our brothers, I appeal to states of the world to extend a hand of help toward the brotherly Yemeni people so they may overcome these circumstances which we hope will end soon."

 HH the Amir began his statement by touching on the previous summit that had been chaired by Kuwait, saying that it had been preceded by "very delicate and complex events, while the joint Arab action was going through some of the hardest times, thus the chances of holding the session (summit) had diminished". "However, we were very much determined on holding the summit and we found in the support offered by our brothers as a decisive factor to enable us proceed with the action and complete preparations for holding the summit," he said.

"The Palestinian cause and the peace process in the Middle East remains a file that we will carry in all our bilateral and regional and international meetings, and we have been seeking to resolve it by establishing an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital according to resolutions of the international legitimacy and the Arab peace initiative to end hardships of our brothers We will never enjoy security and stability as long as this (Palestinian) cause remains unresolved," Sheikh Sabah warned.

 On Iraq, HH the Amir expressed satisfaction at efforts of the Iraqi government with respect of restoring the country's security and stability. "We affirm our full support for realizing this objective," he said, expressing solid confidence in the Iraqi leaders' efforts to overcome the hard circumstances. Turning to Libya, the Amir expressed concern at the recent developments in this country and called for joint action to resolve the "conflict to spare Libyan blood and restore stability to Libya". Touching on the Iranian nuclear issue, he urged Tehran to respond to international efforts regarding its nuclear program.

Sheikh Sabah also called for "active and generous participation" in the third international donors' conference for Syria, due to be held in Kuwait on March 31. He expressed hope the planned convention would end "with its objectives realized so that we could help our brothers to enable them to cope with repercussions of this destructive conflict". HH the Amir indicated that he had responded positively to the UN Secretary General's request to host the conference, sensing the "volume of the catastrophe". "The conflict in Syria will only end with a political settlement that safeguards its sovereignty and territorial sanctity and restores its stability," he said. After concluding the speech, HH the Amir handed over the summit chairmanship to the Egyptian president.