Abu Dhabi, AFP, 19 January 2016 – Yemeni Prime Minister Khaled Bahah said on Tuesday that confronting militants in government-controlled regions of the war-torn country was inevitable in the future.
Al-Qaeda and the ISIS group are both active in Yemen, but so far the Yemeni government and its allies have concentrated on battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels.
Eliminating the extremism of the militant groups will not be resolved through dialogue, Bahah told reporters in Abu Dhabi.
“A confrontation is inevitable, whether it takes place today or tomorrow,” he said.
“Today we are facing various forms of terrorism aimed at shedding blood, killing innocent people, destroying cities… and endangering liberated regions” of the country, Bahah added.
Loyalist forces have regained control since July of five provinces including the government’s temporary capital Aden.
“The presence of these groups has hampered efforts to rebuild liberated” towns destroyed by months of deadly fighting between rebels and loyalists, said Bahah who himself escaped a bombing claimed by ISIS in Aden last year.
Bahah, who is also vice president, insisted that his government hoped to return to Sanaa “peacefully… through political consultations.”
He did not give a date for the postponed next round of UN-brokered peace talks between the government and the insurgents.
The Yemeni government sat down with the rebels and their allies last month in Switzerland for six days of talks that ended without a major breakthrough.
Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said Saturday that the talks, initially scheduled to start on January 14, had been pushed back until January 20 or 23.