Yemen’s Vice President Calls for Global Intervention to Rebuild State and Secure Bab Al-Mandab

Yemen’s vice president issued a stark appeal for robust international intervention to rebuild the nation’s state institutions and dismantle the Houthi militia, cautioning that domestic instability jeopardizes global security and trade through the strategic Bab Al-Mandab Strait.

Speaking before the United Nations General Assembly, Abdullah Al-Alimi Bawazir highlighted how twelve years of relentless conflict have robbed an entire generation of Yemenis of stability and opportunity. He condemned the Houthis for repeatedly rejecting peace overtures while simultaneously escalating their military operations.

“For a Yemeni child, twelve years represent their entire childhood,” Bawazir remarked, characterizing a generation born into “war, hunger, fear, and weapons.” He noted that the Yemeni government has actively engaged with regional and international peace efforts, offering “significant concessions” to end the conflict. However, the Houthis responded with “intransigence,” exploiting humanitarian pauses to bolster their military capabilities.

Bawazir pointed out that the Yemeni government has accepted the latest Saudi-Omani peace roadmap, only for the Houthis to reject it. He accused the militia of intensifying operations in the Red Sea and Bab Al-Mandab to “serve an Iranian agenda that transcends the interests of Yemen and its people.” He further stated that the militia has transformed one of the world’s most vital waterways into “a tool of pressure and bargaining in Iran’s confrontation with the world.”

He praised what he described as the United States’ firm stance toward the Houthis, noting it has disrupted their strategic calculations. “The Yemeni government appreciates President Donald Trump’s clear understanding of the only language this terrorist group comprehends—the language of resolve,” Bawazir stated.

Criticizing the international community’s insufficient decisiveness, he declared that UN “resolutions alone do not make peace. International resolutions devoid of the political will to implement them cannot stop wars.” He warned that Houthi threats to maritime navigation extend far beyond Yemen’s borders, “taking the entire global economy hostage.”

Bawazir argued that while securing commercial shipping addresses the symptoms of Houthi aggression, it fails to tackle the root cause. “Ensuring maritime security requires eliminating the source of the threat on land.” He emphasized that Yemen’s internal stability and maritime security are intrinsically linked, asserting that “restoring the Yemeni state and securing Bab Al-Mandab are inseparable.” He stressed that protecting this strategic waterway is a shared regional and international responsibility that Yemen cannot bear alone, one that also falls upon economies dependent on secure supply chains, energy security, and freedom of navigation.

He noted that recent United Nations reports have flagged increased concerns over maritime security and international trade due to Houthi advances and fighting along Yemen’s western coast. Commending Saudi Arabia’s support and its initiative to establish a multinational maritime defense coalition, he argued that collective action is vital to protect navigation, deter threats, and combat smuggling.

He urged the international community to halt the flow of weapons and technology to the Houthis, fortify Yemen’s national institutions, and bolster its economy. “What we seek from the international community today is not a perpetual management of crises, but a strategic partnership that fosters security, stability, and development for the benefit of Yemen, the region, and global peace,” he said, adding that his nation remains committed to peace but will not tolerate the Houthi usurpation of state institutions as a permanent reality. “There can be no peace with arms outside state authority.”

He reiterated Yemen’s backing of the Palestinian people’s right to freedom, dignity, and an independent sovereign state, while denouncing the Houthis’ continued detention of UN personnel and humanitarian workers. Concluding his address, he envisioned a future Yemen as a vital regional partner and trade bridge linking the Arabian Peninsula, the Horn of Africa, and the wider world, asserting that Bab Al-Mandab must remain “a bridge between peoples, a route for commerce, and a gateway to peace.”

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