UN envoy to Yemen says the solution in Yemen is political

YemenExtra

M.A.

The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffith, expressed on Saturday a genuine desire for peace and the start of political negotiations to stop the war and end the suffering of the Yemeni people.

The UN envoy said he had noticed this during contacts and meetings, some in Sana’a and others in Muscat. In the two capitals, Griffith met leaders of the Ansarullah revolution in Yemen, while other stations of his current tour include UAE and Saudi Arabia, and will also meet the fugitive ex-Yemeni president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. Griffith carefully moves in regard to the manifold Yemeni file.

Griffith in Sana’a and during a week met with leaders of Ansarullah, led by Sayyed Abdulmalik al-Houthi.

The amount of time led by the international delegate indicate that the new discussions in Sana’a at the end of last month were long and thorny, where informed sources said that Griffith discussed with Sayyed Houthi a range of issues and proposals for the revival of political talks, adding that the discussion touched on details concerning the demands of Ansarullah, including organizing the presidential institution, establishing a unified national government and returning to the dialogue, which Ansarullah suggested to be held among the political components, excluding Hadi.

In the opinion of Ansarullah, any political process in any country must be based on internal balances. It must meet the interests of Yemen, not on the basis of external balances and interests. The legitimacy of any ruler must be derived from within and not from abroad. From the restoration of the internal political process, that is, the return of all Yemeni political components such as “the Islah Party, the Nasserist Party, the Socialist Party, the Southern Movement, Ansarullah and the General People’s Congress” to the dialogue table in order to fill the absence of the executive authority, especially that Hadi has no role in the Yemeni crisis, it is true that Hadi’s presence in power was a result of a consensus among the political components of Yemen, but not all, whereas compatibility was between Al-Islah and their partners, the People’s Congress and their partners, in exchange for rejection of the Southern Movement and the youth of the Yemeni revolution, as well as to reject Ansarullah for the initiative Gulf.

In the context of Griffith’s recent diplomatic moves, he also met with the head of Ansarullah’s delegation, Mohamed Abdulsalam, last Saturday in Muscat, Oman.

Observers believe that the doubling of the Ansarullah rocket attacks on Saudi Arabia during the past months, including an attack during which they fired seven missiles on the Kingdom on March 26, the third anniversary of the start of the Saudi-led war on Yemen, may be due to the failure of these negotiations.

These ballistic attacks act as a mean of pressure on the Saudi intransigence to achieve Yemeni gains in the negotiations, especially that Ansarullah do not see the future with an illegal Yemeni President ruling Yemen, so far, the position of Riyadh is still vague from Hadi also, the recent communication between Riyadh and Ansarullah excluded Hadi and his government.

Moreover, the ally of Saudi Arabia, which is the UAE, has been attempting to marginalize the role of Hadi in Yemen through its support for the southern movement.

On the other hand, an official of the Saudi-led coalition denied Saudi negotiations with Ansarullah and reiterated support for UN-led peace efforts aimed at reaching a political solution. There was no official comment on Ansarullah.

In this context, we find that new circumstances can add new impetus to Griffith’s moves in Yemen, which may create a new environment that was not available to his former international counterparts in Yemen.

The parties to the conflict in Yemen, especially Saudi Arabia, can no longer bear the burdens of economic and even moral warfare, targeting Yemeni citizens and children has placed it in a difficult position even with its closest supporters in the war on Yemen, such as the United States and Britain, and Saudi Arabia needs to give up its three nodes to achieve peace in Yemen.

The first node is that Saudi Arabia so far does not recognize that it is a party to the conflict, and is trying to wear off accusations and uses them against Iran and the second node of Riyadh is to link Saudi Arabia to the solution of Hadi, who has no decision in his hand and no longer represents a political force neither in Yemen nor even in Saudi Arabia that is detaining him.

Furthermore, the interests of Hadi and whoever is with him became linked to the continuation of the crisis, the solution to the crisis in Yemen means the choice of a new president and a new national unity government.

The third node is that Saudi Arabia in its war against Yemen has entered with high expectations considering the targets.

Observers believe that Griffith’s success and his failure in the Yemeni file is linked to the extent of his commitment to neutrality between the Yemeni victim and the Saudi party, and it is not known whether his British citizenship will grant him this neutrality, especially that Britain is one of the most important countries that support the Saudi-led war on Yemen with weapons.