UN envoy negotiates release of Saleh’s sons

Houthi rebels released two sons of the late former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in an international deal struck 10 months since they were captured after their father’s killing, Yemeni officials said yesterday.

Madeen Ali Abdullah Saleh and Salah Ali Abdullah Saleh were taken to Jordan on a chartered United Nations aircraft after mediation by Omani officials, Hamza Al Kamali, a member of the Yemeni government delegation to Geneva, told The National.

“The Omanis were excited to mediate the release of Salah and Madeen because they both have Omani nationalities,” he said. “On the way to Jordan, they transited through the UAE.”

Other Yemeni officials told the Associated Press that UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths was integral to the deal being made.

It remains unclear if the pair will remain in Jordan or move on to a third country.

The deal was struck on the condition that the pair step down from Yemeni politics. An amount was paid to the Houthis for their release but it was unclear by whom or how much.

Mr Griffiths has become a key figure in the negotiations over any conclusion to the conflict in Yemen. He travelled to Abu Dhabi yesterday to meet top Emirati and Yemeni officials to discuss the peace process in the country and confidence-building measures.

The pair’s exit from Yemen had been planned for earlier in the month but a last-minute issue led the Houthi rebels to block the UN plane landing to complete the deal, Sky News Arabia reported.

The Houthis had reportedly demanded that an Omani plane be sent for the transfer while the Arab Coalition insisted that the UN make the flight.

The sons had been detained in custody since the death of Saleh in December last year.

A journalist close to the family of the former president confirmed their release.

Only the two sons of the former president were allowed to leave Sanaa while other members of the Saleh family remain detained by the Houthi militia, including Afash Tariq, the son of Maj Gen Tariq Mohammed Abdullah Saleh, who is a

nephew of the former Yemeni leader.

Oman had hoped to send an aircraft to take the released men to Muscat, the Omani capital, but the Arab Coalition refused, fearing that Houthi members would be transported in the aircraft.

For 33 years, Ali Abdullah Saleh ruled Yemen with an iron grip.

Skilled at weaving useful alliances and calculating risks, he was a master of the political game. But last December his luck ran out when his colleagues turned on him and ended his life.

The 75-year-old was killed in an attack on his convoy. For several hours, it was not known whether he had survived, even after grisly video footage appeared on social media showing his apparently lifeless body being bundled on to a flatbed lorry. But eventually, officials from his party, the General People’s Congress, confirmed their leader was dead.

Saleh also made overtures to Saudi Arabia in the weeks leading up to his death.

The Houthis seized Sanaa in September 2014, triggering the outbreak of the current Yemen conflict.

In the following months, they took control of large parts of the country, prompting the intervention of a regional coalition led by Saudi Arabia.