Oman condemns plans by the US to re-designate Ansarallah as a 'terror group'

ByNews Desk- The Cradle 

The foreign minister of Oman says dialogue is the only way to end the war in Yemen

File image. Yemeni citizens march through the capital Sanaa to show their support for the Ansarallah resistance movement. 13 February 2015 (Photo credit: AFP)

On 29 January the foreign minister of Oman, Badr Al-Busaidi, said schemes by the United Arab Emirates to pressure the US government to re-designate the Ansarallah resistance movement as a terrorist organization will hurt any prospects a finding a peaceful solution to the war in Yemen.

In an interview with Al-Monitor, Al-Busaidi said that instead of undertaking maneuvres to isolate the Ansarallah movement, Abu Dhabi and Washington should be focusing on finding means to engage the Sanaa administration and bringing them to the negotiating table as they are a very key component of the political landscape in Yemen.

He also emphasized that any peace process should be led by Yemeni political actors and not external parties.  He pointed out that ”Yemeni problem needs, ultimately a Yemeni solution.”

Al-Busaidi also reiterated that Oman remains ready to help facilitate dialogue to end the seven year-long conflict. He said it was important for all concerned parties to commit to the establishment of a ceasefire as it would be difficult for any meaningful negotiations to take place amid the escalation in the fighting.

Last month US President, Joe Biden told journalists that his administration was considering re-adding the Ansarallah resistance movement to its list of “international terrorist organizations”.  The announcement came a few hours after the Emirati envoy to Washington revealed that he had asked the US government to restore the Trump era designation in response to Ansarallah retaliatory strikes on the Emirati capital on 17 January.

The strikes came in retribution to the participation of the UAE in the Saudi-led coalition that has been waging a brutal war against the people of Yemen since early 2015. Ansarallah has carried out more attacks on the UAE since the first one, and has vowed to continue with the attacks until Abu Dhabi ends its aggression against the Yemeni people.

Despite claiming that it withdrew its troops from Yemen in October 2019, the UAE remains a key member of the Saudi-led coalition of aggression. In addition to directly participation in the aggression, Abu Dhabi also finances and supports extremist groups that are fighting against the Yemeni armed forces.