Two former Yemen ministers flee Houthi house arrest in Sanaa

Two former Yemen government ministers have escaped the Houthi-held capital of Sanaa, fleeing house arrest.

Abdul Razak Al Ashwal, a former minister of technical training and vocational education, arrived in Aden on Saturday, a government source told The National.

Mr Al Ashwal was among five people from Yemen’s Al Islah Party released from a Houthi prison in 2016 and placed under detention at home.

Also on Saturday, Brig Mutaher Rashad Al Masri, a former minister for Yemen’s late ruler Ali Abdullah Saleh, fled to Marib, east of Sanaa.

The two were jailed in 2015 but the former UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, asked the Houthis to agree to house arrest.

Fighting continues in Yemen ahead of a new round of peace talks led by Mr Cheikh Ahmed’s successor, Martin Griffiths.

Two children were killed and another two badly injured when the Iran-backed Houthis pounded a populated neighbourhood east of Marib on Saturday, local journalist Ramzi Mokhtar said.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that the rebels had stopped the head of the world body in Sanaa, Elobaid Elobaid, responsible for observers across the country, from returning to Yemen.

No explanation was given as to why his visa was not renewed, said Saba news agency.

The rebels and the internationally recognised government of President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi say they will attend talks being convened by Mr Griffiths in Geneva next month.

The talks will be first since Kuwait hosted several months of negotiations in 2016.

Abdul Razak Al Ashwal arrived in Aden on Saturday, while Brig Mutaher Rashad Al Masri fled to Marib