Yemen's PM urges oil companies to stop deals with Houthi rebels

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Yemen's prime minister urged local and foreign oil companies on Saturday to avoid conducting any deals or relations with Houthis in the country's northern provinces.

The Yemeni PM Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr, at a meeting with high-ranking officials in the southern port city of Aden, strongly warned all the oil producing companies against making any deals with Houthi rebels in Sanaa and elsewhere, according to a statement released by Saba News Agency.

"Oil companies that violate the government's rules will be accountable for their decisions and will face financial punitive measures," the statement said.

"The prime minister also discussed with the governor of the oil-rich province of Shabwa the ongoing preparations to reopen some oil companies there and resuming oil production in the government-controlled provinces," the statement added.

Yemen's Prime Minister Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr attends a new conference in Riyadh on May 18, 2016. /Reuters Photo

Yemen's internationally-backed government, allied with the Saudi-led Arab military coalition, has for more than two years been battling Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels over the control of the country.

The coalition began a military air campaign in March 2015 to roll back Houthi gains and reinstate exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to power.

The coalition also imposed air and sea blockades to prevent weapons from reaching Houthis, who had invaded the capital Sanaa and seized most of the northern Yemeni provinces.

UN statistics show more than 10,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the coalition intervened in the Yemeni civil war that has also displaced around three million people.

The impoverished Arab country is also suffering the world's largest cholera epidemic since April this year, with about 5,000 cases reported every day.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency