AFP/Washington
US officials are holding discussions with representatives of the Shia militia in Yemen who have forced the resignation of the country’s president, a Pentagon spokesman said on Tuesday.
But the discussions with the Houthi militiamen do not amount to an agreement to share intelligence on Al Qaeda in Yemen, Rear Admiral John Kirby told reporters.
“Given the political uncertainty, it’s fair to say that US government officials are in communication with various parties in Yemen about what is a very fluid and complex political situation,” Kirby said.
“It is also accurate to say that the Houthis, as participants in ... these events, will certainly have reason to want to speak to international partners and the international community about their intentions and about how this process is going to unfold,” he said.
“The US government is participating in those discussions.”
But asked if the Americans and Houthis were sharing intelligence on the movements of Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), Kirby said: “There’s no intelligence sharing regimen with the Houthis. There’s no formal agreement to do that, and you need those kinds of formal agreements in order to be able to do that.”
Washington has vowed to keep up its fight against AQAP despite the turmoil gripping Yemen, where Western-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has stepped down after the militia seized the presidential palace.
The United States conducted a drone strike on Monday, killing three suspected Al Qaeda militants, a tribal source said.
Washington has long relied on Yemen’s government to help it target Al Qaeda extremists and a small contingent of US special forces is deployed to the country to help its army battle AQAP, which US intelligence officials view as the most dangerous branch of the militant network.
But US officials are worried that the counter-terrorism and intelligence operations in Yemen will be jeopardised by the upheaval unfolding in Sanaa.
Michael Vickers, undersecretary of defence for intelligence, said last week at an Atlantic Council event that it was unclear if the aim of the Houthi militia “is to take over the state as much as it is to exercise influence and refashion it in a way that they think is more aligned with their interests”.
In Sanaa yesterday, Houthi militiamen fired in the air and made arrests for the third time this week to prevent a rally against their tightening grip on the capital, witnesses said.
They said the militiamen also used batons against the demonstrators, a number of whom were injured.
“No to confessionalism,” the protesters chanted before being forced to abandon a planned march through the centre of Sanaa.
It was the third such incident since Sunday.
Opponents of the Houthis have been urging demonstrations against their occupation of the capital, which has plunged Yemen into crisis.
The militia, who descended from their base in Yemen’s north to overrun Sanaa in September, last week seized control of the presidential palace and key government buildings.
On Tuesday, however, they freed a top aide to Hadi.
Protesters demonstrate against the Houthi movement in Sanaa yesterday.
