Jumaih: The Houthi militia is trying to reformulate the history of Yemen according to a sectarian logic
English - Thursday 15 April 2021 الساعة 08:49 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
The Yemeni ambassador to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Muhammad Jumaih, accused the Houthi militia, the Iranian arm in Yemen, of trying to reformulate Yemeni history according to a sectarian logic.
Jumaih said, in an interview with the Russian "Sputnik" agency, "There are fears that the Houthi group has demolished some historical mosques in Zabid and other areas."
He considered that "the Houthis start from religious doctrinal points of view, and view the ancient Yemeni history with a negative view, because they want to establish the history of Yemen since the first day that Al-Hadi Yahya bin Al-Hussein came to Saada in the middle of the third century AH, this is the date that they take care of."
He added, "Therefore, they now have new terminology, such as the term fiduciary identity as opposed to the Yemeni identity, meaning that they see that the current Yemeni identity is a non-faith identity and therefore seek to engineer this identity in order to conform to the characteristics of the faith advocated by Hussein al-Houthi."
Jumaih criticized "the innovations that were exposed to antiquities in Yemen, especially in Old Sana'a, which is registered on the UNESCO World Heritage List, by using modern materials that are inconsistent with the historical and heritage material from which Sana'a was built and are considered to be in violation of the laws for the protection of world cultural sites," he said.
He accused the Houthis of destroying the ancient "Al-Nahrain" mosque in Sanaa, considering that a violation of Yemeni history and heritage, pointing out that "a message has been sent to UNESCO in this regard."
Pointing out that "the greatest danger is that there are some other mosques, which are historical mosques in Zabid and elsewhere, in which a circular was issued that they should be rebuilt for flimsy reasons, most of which are reasons in the direction of the qiblah, or they are historical and possibly crumbling, and thus they are demolished and rebuilt without realizing the historical importance of this building."
He said: "Because the building is not just a house of worship, it has a historical dimension, since hundreds of years have passed since it carries a religion and history as well,"
Jumaih praised the role of "UNESCO" in Yemen and its response after some buildings were damaged in the old Sana'a as a result of last year's rains.
He stated that there was an emergency support program at UNESCO, and some sums were spent through the organization's office in the Qatari capital, Doha, and some buildings inside the old Sana'a were restored.
According to Jumaih, the European Union program has restored some buildings in Old Sana'a, Shibam Hadramout, and the historic city of Zabid.
