Saudi-led coalition hinders Yemen’s peace talks in Geneva
YemenExtra
M.A.
The United Nations on Wednesday expressed “disappointment” at the consultations on Yemen, which was agreed to take place on Thursday. The UN spoke to journalists about that in Geneva after the failure of the provision of a plane to transport the delegation of the Yemeni capital Sana’a to the Swiss capital Geneva.
The UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffith, said that the third Geneva station, which will gather the delegation of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and the delegation of Sana’a, is going to hold “consultations, not negotiations.” He pointed out that the consultations will focus on trust-building measures between the parties to reach a solution to the Yemeni crisis.
He stressed that consultations would lead to future negotiations, stressing that the goal of the Geneva consultations was to reactivate the two-year-old peace process in Yemen, the latest of which was Kuwait’s consultations.
“We listened to all parties and leaders’ opinions over the past months, there was an extensive discussion with all segments of society, and we came out with the impression that we all agreed that it was time to start a new process to resolve the crisis,” Griffith told a news conference in Geneva.
The UN envoy said there was an “opportunity” this week to turn the page and start consultations.
On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Sana’a based Salvation Government that the Saudi-led coalition sets up obstacles to prevent the national delegation from participating in the Geneva consultations.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement on Wednesday that not granting a license to operate an Omani plane aims at obstructing their delegation from participating in the consultations.
The Ministry stressed that these obstacles come after the bet of the Saudi-led coalition of pushing them into refusing participation through military escalation and massacres.
Furthermore, the Foreign Ministry expressed appreciation for the efforts of the UN envoy to Yemen and his serious efforts to ensure the success of the consultations. Moreover, it expressed hope that the United Nations will compel the Saudi-led coalition into authorizing an Omani plane to transport the national delegation from Sana’a and ensure its return.
In addition, the Ministry noted that the permanent and firm option is peace based on a just partnership in the light of a unified Yemen with full sovereignty. It also confirmed its continued willingness to cooperate with the UN envoy to Yemen.
“The United Nations has so far failed to extract a license from the coalition of aggression to carry out the operation and provide a plane that carries the negotiating delegation to Geneva and returns them, ” said Abdulmalik Al-Hajri, a member of the national delegation to the negotiations.
He also stressed that the UN failed to obtain a license to transfer a number of people stranded and wounded to Oman, according to the mechanism that was obtained in all previous consultations.
Observers considered the attempt of the Saudi-led coalition to prevent the holding of consultations is nothing but disregard for UN efforts to achieve comprehensive negotiations leading to an end to the unjustified war on Yemen and lifting the embargo through a just, comprehensive and sustainable solution.
On the other hand, the head of the Revolutionary Committee Mohammed Ali al-Houthi mentioned in a new tweet on his Twitter page that the Saudi-led coalition stopped the UN envoy Martin Griffith for hours at Sana’a Airport.
“The American-Saudi aggression and its allies today stopped the envoy Griffith for hours inside his plane at Sana’a airport, as it did with representatives of the dialogue in Djibouti,” said al-Houthi.
He also conveyed that the Saudi-led coalition has not yet given the UN envoy the right of movement in an attempt to shake confidence between him and people, which it did not dare to do with the previous UN envoy ould cheikh.
He added: “This behavior needs an informed response to the Secretary-General of the United Nations and his supporters at the least.”