Yemeni parties in another bid to break deadlock

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KUWAIT CITY, April 24, (Agencies): Yemeni parties, holding UN-brokered peace consultations in Kuwait, resumed meetings on Sunday in yet another bid to break the deadlock over thorny issues. Representatives from the Yemeni government, the General People’s Congress and Ansarullah group were scheduled to meet at 4:00 pm but delayed for three hours because they were waiting non-government parties to decided on whether to condemn al-Qaeda’s acts in Hadhramawt, a government official said.

Mane’ Al-Matari, Media Advisor of the foreign minister, said in a statement to reporters there were differences among the negotiators over the military operations against al-Qaeda in Hadhramawt.

He said The General People’s Congress and Ansarullah said the military operations were violating the ceasefire agreement. Al-Matari said Ambassadors of countries sponsoring the peace settlement in Yemen met separately with every party attending the talks to urge them return to the table of consultations and try find a common ground.

Consultations among the Yemeni parties resumed today morning to discuss how to maintain the ceasefire in the country, an item that dominated discussions since they were launched last Thursday under direct supervision of UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Yemen Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmad. Ould Cheikh Ahmed acknowledged the negotiations were difficult but expressed hopes for progress. “The atmosphere of the talks is promising and there is common ground to build on in order to reconcile differences,” the UN envoy said in a statement issued late Saturday.

The delegates had agreed to appoint two officials, one from each side, to make recommendations on how to sustain the ceasefire, he added. But the two sides differ on priorities for the ceasefire. The government delegation said overnight that the ceasefire should include opening safe passages to all besieged areas and releasing political prisoners as well as those abducted as part of confidence-building measures.

The Iran-backed Houthis are demanding an immediate halt to air strikes that a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out since March 2015 in support of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. “The continuity of air strikes by targeting roads, bridges and homes like what happened yesterday … affirms that the announcement of cessation of military actions is baseless,” said Mohamed Abdulsalam, the Houthi spokesman and head of delegation.

This meant that “the path of negotiations under aggression will not be different from previous rounds,” Abdulsalam wrote on Facebook, in reference to the two failed rounds held in Switzerland late last year. The two sides also differ on the way to tackle other central issues. The government wants the discussions to start with the issue of a Houthi pullout from areas including the capital Sanaa and relinquishing heavy arms and missiles.

The Houthis want the political process and the establishment of a national unity government to be first, sources close to the talks told AFP. The negotiations in Kuwait opened late Thursday after the delayed arrival  of representatives of the Houthi rebels and allied forces loyal to ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

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