UN Security Council votes in favour of resolution demanding halt to Houthi Red Sea attacks
The resolution, adopted Wednesday, says the attacks are impeding global commerce “and undermine navigational rights and freedoms as well as regional peace and security.”
The vote was 11-0, with Russia, China, Algeria and Mozambique abstaining.
In contrast to decisions taken by the UN General Assembly, those in the Security Council are legally binding and members must “carry out the decisions”.
United States deputy ambassador Robert Wood said the resolution would send a message that attacking commercial shipping is unacceptable and must stop.
“Freedom of navigation, freedom of commercial activity on the seas is critically important to commerce and to national security of a number of states,” he said.
A key provision of the resolution noted the right of UN members “to defend their vessels from attack”, amounting to an implicit endorsement of the US-led Operation Prosperity Guardian.
The mission has been defending commercial ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden from Houthi missile and drone attacks.
The Iranian-backed Houthis says it launched the attacks with the aim of ending Israel’s offensive in Gaza.
A Houthis spokesman responded to the resolution, calling it a “political game”.
The resolution will demand the immediate release of the first ship the Houthis attacked, the Japanese-owned Galaxy Leader, which was seized on November 19 along with its crew.
Retaliation fears for the Arab world’s poorest nation
The Red Sea links the Mideast and Asia to Europe via the Suez Canal, and its narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Nearly 10 per cent of all oil trade and an estimated $US1 trillion ($1.5 trillion) in goods pass through the strait annually.
But the group’s attacks have forced many shipping companies to bypass this route and use the much longer and more expensive route around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
Last week, the US and 12 other countries issued a statement calling for the immediate end of Houthi attacks and warning further attacks would require collective action.
In an interview prior to the vote, the US ambassador alluded Russia may not vote in support as the nation raised questions about the impact on ongoing peace talks in Yemen.
The Houthi group is also engaged in a civil war with Yemen’s internationally recognised government since 2014.
A tentative ceasefire between the Houthis and a Saudi-led coalition fighting on behalf of Yemen’s exiled government has held for months despite the nation’s long war.
That has raised concerns that any wider conflict in the area — or a potential reprisal strike from Western forces — could reignite those tensions in the Arab world’s poorest nation.
SOURCE: ABCNEWS