Yemen's foreign minister asks France to help curb Houthi military capabilities

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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Yemen’s foreign minister asked France on Thursday to help weaken the Houthi movement’s military capabilities and cut off its sources of funding.

Afrah al-Zouba made the request to the French ambassador to Yemen, Véronique Vouland-Aneini, the state news agency Saba reported. The two met in Riyadh.

They discussed developments in Yemen and bilateral political and security cooperation, according to the agency’s account. She also called for closer coordination with the international community, Saba said.

Al-Zouba called for what she described as a firm international stance against the group. She said weakening its capabilities and cutting its funding would help restore state institutions.

She warned of what she called escalating Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait. Those threats carry consequences for regional security, global trade and energy prices, she said.

She also said the movement recruits children and violates the rights of citizens. The Houthis reject that characterisation and present their campaign as a response to foreign intervention.

Vouland-Aneini expressed France’s solidarity with Yemen, Saba said. She said she would give the French government a clear picture of developments in the country, and acknowledged the difficulties Yemen faces.

The account of the meeting rests on Saba, which is run by the internationally recognised government and is a party to the war it reports on. No independent confirmation of what was said has been published. Yemen Herald could not verify the readout.

France has had no embassy inside Yemen for more than a decade. The French government’s directory of diplomatic posts records that the mission closed on February 13, 2015, and that the ambassador and her staff work from Riyadh.

France set out its position on Yemen at the Security Council in August. Jay Dharmadhikari, its deputy permanent representative, said France held the Houthis responsible for the escalation and condemned their attacks on the Yemeni government and on Saudi Arabia.

He cited a strike on the cargo vessel Tihamah on August 11 that killed crew members, and offered condolences to Pakistan and Indonesia.

The Houthis must end the attacks immediately and unconditionally, he said, citing freedom of navigation under Security Council resolution 2722. He said France would keep protecting the route through the European naval mission Aspides, in what he called a strictly defensive posture.

He said an Iranian aircraft landed in Sanaa on July 3 without the permission of the recognised authorities. He accused Tehran of supporting the Houthis in violation of the arms embargo under resolution 2216, and said France expected Iran to halt transfers of military equipment. Iran denies arming the group.

He also demanded the release of detained United Nations, non-governmental and diplomatic staff. Those detentions breached international humanitarian law and Security Council resolution 2730 and kept aid from civilians, he said.

There is no military solution to the war, he said. France supports the UN special envoy, Hans Grundberg, and a political process that involves women and all segments of Yemeni society.

Thursday’s meeting followed several weeks of Yemeni diplomatic activity directed at the same end.

The foreign ministry’s record of al-Zouba’s engagements shows she called for a firm European stance on October 15 and discussed Yemen with the British minister for the Middle East on October 13. She issued a statement at the 52nd session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation’s Council of Foreign Ministers in Baghdad on October 18.

The same record shows the government called on the United Nations on October 14 to act to lift the siege of Taiz. Two days later the minister told international media that ending the Houthi coup and restoring state institutions were essential to regional security and to maritime navigation.

The ministry said the government wrote to the Security Council and the secretary-general on October 10 about a Houthi attack on Aden airport. On October 19, it said, the chairman of the Presidential Leadership Council asked the secretary-general to back an international move to designate the Houthis a terrorist organisation.

The cabinet approved a draft law to that effect on October 11 at a meeting in Aden chaired by Prime Minister Shaya al-Zindani, his office said. The draft would designate the group a terrorist organisation and criminalise its activities and its financing. Officials were told to complete the procedures needed for ratification.

The cabinet tied the decision to an attack on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh the previous day. Its statement put the toll at 12 killed and 309 injured, a figure Yemen Herald has not independently checked. The Houthis did not comment on the designation at the time.

Needs across Yemen remain among the largest anywhere, by the United Nations’ own measure. Its humanitarian response plan for 2026, issued in March, put the number of people requiring assistance at more than 22 million and the number facing acute food insecurity at 18.3 million.

The plan recorded more than 2.2 million children under five as acutely malnourished, 516,157 of them severely. It counted 5.2 million people displaced inside the country, and sought 2.16 billion dollars to reach 12 million of those in need.

Al-Zouba serves in the internationally recognised government, which is seated in Aden. The ministry publishes a list of her meetings on its website. It had not posted Thursday’s meeting as of Friday.