Cairo Hosts Yemen’s putschists and Houthi Leaders

Media of the ousted President of Yemen, Ali Abdullah Saleh, and other Egyptian media outlets have broadcast a video that shows Yahya Saleh, the nephew of the former president, visiting the tomb of the former Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser in Cairo.

The media said that Yahya Mohammed Abdullah Saleh participated in a seminar held in Cairo titled “In solidarity with the Yemeni people”, which highlighted what it described as the “Saudi aggression”.

Moreover, the seminar screened a documentary movie about what it called “The crimes of the Saudi aggression in Yemen.”

Egyptian media also showed pictures of the meeting held between Saleh’s nephew and the Secretary-General of the Arab Lawyers Union, Abdul Latif Bouachrine, in Cairo.

It also reported that the meeting came in the framework of coordination to defend the Yemeni people.

In response, Yemeni Activist Mohamed al-Debyani, criticized Yahya Saleh’s visit to Cairo and said,”How does al-Sisi’s government allow the nephew of the ousted President to organize a hostile seminar in Cairo, supporting the Houthi militias against the legitimacy and the Arab Coalition.”

He added his comments under the Aranic hashtag #Egypt_serves_the_Houthis

This visit comes three weeks after the Houthi leader Mustafa al-Mutawakel’s visit to Cairo.

Activists said that al-Mutawakel visited Egypt with an official invitation from the Egyptian government,as he is the the Chairman of the General Authority for Investment , where he met with several top officials in the Egyptian Investment Authority .

In this context, the Yemeni activist, Al-Debyani, wrote on his Twitter account,” What does it mean that the Egyptian Investment Authority meet with the Houthi leader Mustafa Al-Mutawakel – appointed by the coup leaders as the Chairman of General Authority for Investment (GIA) in Sana’a?”

It is worth to mention that the Yemeni General Authority for Investment (GIA) website has revealed that Al-Mutawakel visited Cairo on April 15, and that he visited the General Authority for Investment and Free Zones (GAFI) in Egypt, adding that during the visit, he met with Ms. Mona Zobaa, Vice Chairman of GAFI.

During the meeting, “They discussed the scope of bilateral relations between the two authorities in the field of investment via activating the joint Yemeni-Egyptian technical committee to enhance investment inflow to both brotherly countries using the easiest pressures to attract these investments,” according to the website.

In fact, Saudi Arabia, which leads the Arab coalition forces in Yemen, wanted a key role for Cairo in its war against the Houthis who control the capital Sana’a, but Abd al-Fattah al-Sisi declined the Saudi request.

According to unofficial reports, some Saudi leaders suspect that Egypt is involved in smuggling Scud tactical ballistic missiles,made in China,to Houthis in Yemen.

Reports have not been confirmed or denied by Riyadh.

Moreover, the Houthis have organized a photo exhibition, last July, entitled “Stop the Aggression on Yemen” in Cairo, which led to the resentment of many Saudi figures, writers and scholars.

In April 2016, dozens of a group called “the Revolutionary Alternative ” staged a protest against Al-Hazm Storm Operation outside the Saudi embassy in Giza, near the Egyptian capital, Cairo.

In the stand, the participants raised banners that attacked the Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz, and demanded the expulsion of the Saudi ambassador in Cairo, describing the operation as “barbaric aggression.”