In the midst of increased mediation efforts to end the eight-year conflict, the UN special envoy for Yemen has called on both warring parties to take “serious steps” toward a lasting peace.
Hans Grundberg emphasized the need for continued and stepped-up international advocacy for a political resolution that ushers in a future of lasting peace and development in Yemen during a visit to Japan on Monday.
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The present moment is crucial. The parties have an obligation to build on the advancements made and make significant strides in the direction of lasting peace, he said.
“The international community’s unity of purpose and coherence with regard to Yemen will be critical assets in this regard.”.
Oman has been attempting to improve relations between Saudi Arabia and the Ansarullah resistance movement in Yemen in addition to the UN efforts spearheaded by Grundberg.
The UN-mediated ceasefire, which is still largely in effect despite officially expiring last October, is the focus of the peace efforts.
Peace talks with Ansarullah representatives were held in Sana’a in April by delegations from the Omani and Saudi Arabia.
Also on Monday, the al-Masirah television network reported that Washington has increased its “interferences” in Yemen, citing meetings between Stephen Fagin, the US ambassador to Yemen, and Faraj al-Bahsani and Sultan Ali Al-Arada, members of the purported presidential leadership council.
According to the report, Fagin advised the council not to pay state employee salaries out of oil revenues during both meetings.
Meetings are scheduled to “discuss peace efforts and a political settlement in Yemen,” but they actually have entirely different objectives, according to the report.
They are a part of the American countermove, which aims to sabotage Omani efforts at mediation and halt the aggression against Yemen. ”.
The leader of Ansarullah, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, charged last week that the US was “obstructing real peace” and “fair entitlements for our dear people.”
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched a brutal war of aggression against Yemen with the support of some of its allies, including the United Arab Emirates.
The war, which has received generous political, logistical, and armament support from the US and other Western governments, aims to install the former Riyadh- and Washington-friendly government in Yemen.
Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, the former leader of the Yemeni government, announced his resignation in late 2014 and later fled the country to Riyadh because of a power struggle with Ansarullah. Yemen’s affairs have been managed by the movement in the absence of a functioning government.
In the meantime, the war has resulted in the death of tens of thousands of Yemenis and caused the worst humanitarian crisis to ever hit a nation.
