AFP – 12 March 2015 – Talks aimed at pulling Yemen out of crisis are open to the Shiite Houthi militia which seized power in Sanaa last month, Qatar’s Foreign Minister Khalid al-Attiyah said on Thursday.
The Houthis have opposed any change in venue for UN-brokered talks, which broke down after Western-backed President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escaped from house arrest in Sanaa last month.
Hadi, who has resumed power from second city Aden in the south, has proposed that talks move to neighboring Saudi Arabia.

The six Sunni-dominated Gulf Cooperation Council members agreed to that request last Monday but have not set a date for the meeting.
“The invitation concerns the Houthis,” Attiyah, whose country currently holds the GCC’s rotating presidency, told reporters following a meeting of Gulf foreign ministers in the Saudi capital.
“It’s their business to accept or not.”
At the joint news conference with Attiyah, Zayani underlined that anyone joining the negotiations must adhere to Hadi’s conditions.
These include rejecting “the coup d’etat” by the Huthis, returning seized military equipment and allowing the state “to recover its authority over all territory,” Hadi said in a letter to Saudi King Salman.
The talks would aim for a resumption of the political process begun after the departure of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in early 2012 after a bloody year-long popular uprising.
The Gulf states are deeply suspicious of the Huthis, fearing they will take Yemen into the orbit of Shiite Iran.
Separately, the six Gulf states discussed the four-year conflict in Syria that has left at least 210,000 people dead and reiterated their calls for embattled President Bashar al-Assad to step down.
A statement said the GCC hopes a “political solution” could lead to the formation of “a transitional government with full executive powers” to resolve the conflict.
Saudi Arabia has recalled its ambassador to Sweden, accusing it of flagrant interference in its internal affairs as Stockholm cut military ties with the oil-rich monarchy.