Interviewed by Sadeq Nasher

Abdul Wahab Al-Anesi, The Secretary General of the Islah Party said that the extremist policies adopted by the authorities, have produced two extremists parties, referring to the separatists in the South, and the other, the Houthis.
Al-Anesi noted that the opposition tried its best in finding solutions to all the crises facing the country.
Al-Anesi said that the authority wants to drag the ‘’Islah Party’’ and all political powers in the country into war against Houthis, so that it can become a mediator. While in fact, the ruling party is the maker of the ongoing crisis with Houthis and others. Below are the details of the interview.

Yemen faces many crises these days which threat its stability, the continuous demonstrations in the South and the war with Houthis, which entered a new front of clashes with Saudi Arabia; how does the scene look?
The Yemeni scene is complex and contains serious risks to the present and future of Yemen. Meanwhile, the authority is pursuing irrational policies toward the country’s condition. Solutions to the crises have been blocked in front of the authority; furthermore, the government comes to solve the crises by adding new ones.
In the beginning, the southern phenomena started reasonably by them demanding on legitimated issues. The Joint Meeting Parties (JMP) was the first to support these demands.
The same happened in Sa’ada, which its crises started in 2004. People there claimed that the authority assaulted them; as we all know, all Yemenis are armed, and people no longer resort to the courts if they are subjected to injustice because courts are corrupt. So, we found that what we call the ‘’extremism system’’ led to the emergence of two extremists, the first in the south and the second in the north.

Do you think that the current conditions need all political parties to discuss the dimensions of what is happening in Yemen’s borders, of battles between Houthis and the Saudi army?
A- We have drawn attention to this issue since early time, particularly since 2007, after the ruling party blocked all ways for serious dialogue. We offered our solution, but they were refused.
We called on all the parties in Yemen for dialogue based on every citizen must take responsibility for solving the crisis, only under the umbrella of National Dialogue.

Has the (GPC) called on the Islah Party to participate in Sa’ada war, at least from a religious scope?
Indeed, the state’s media focuses at creating a third party on the state’s conflicts, which created the crisis so that it can become the mediator between the conflicting sides. The ruling party wants to drag all the parties in Sa’ada war, mainly the Islah Party.

Were you convinced by your rejection to participate in the war against Houthis, or were you against possible claims by the authority that it used you as a political card?
Our decision has been clear since the first moment that war is not the solution for solving political problems. We were aware that the war policy won’t solve the problem. Now there have been six wars which clearly means the failure of the war solution.
Unfortunately, the authority’s media outlets play a major role in misleading people by negative facts.

Do you feel that the situation in the south began leaking out of control of all sides?
The same thing is repeating in the south, as the insistence of the authority for bad policies will make the problem worse. There are undeclared agendas of those now in power, which are making things complicated.

Are you in direct contact with the leaders of the secession movements, or is there significant divergence in the position of both sides?
In the beginning it was proposed on the JMP to contain the southern mobility. We believed that the presence of the Southern Mobility with its efforts, formations and curriculums will enrich the national movement.
Recently, we expanded the call for dialogue to all the country parties. No party should be excluded from dialogue; even those who have resorted to extreme solutions. These sides won’t be able to convince us nor people of their projects; however, we are sure that they will stand beside us when they find that there are real solutions for the crises.

Do you accept federalism choice as a solution for the crises?
We have suggested this choice and we found other solutions including local governance.