Yemenis welcome US call for a truce – Obstacles loom

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CAIRO, Nov 1, (Agencies): New US calls for a cease-fire in Yemen have raised the prospect of ending a disastrous civil war that has caused the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, but previous rounds of talks have failed and thus far neither side shows any sign of backing down. Earlier this week, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called for a “cessation of hostilities” and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said the truce should happen within 30 days and lead to UN-led talks.

Their remarks mark a shift in the position of the United States, which has backed the Saudi-led coalition in its three-and-a-half-year war with Iran-aligned Houthi rebels. The White House has come under mounting pressure to rein in Saudi Arabia since Saudi agents killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi last month in their Istanbul consulate.

The slaying has also brought renewed attention to the conflict in Yemen, which has killed thousands of civilians and driven the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine. But the Saudi-led coalition is unlikely to accept the current battle lines for long since they leave the Houthis in control of much of the country, including the capital, Sanaa, and the major port city of Hodeida. The two US allies leading the coalition – Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – have yet to comment on the proposal. The rebels welcomed the calls for a truce as “positive” on Thursday, while urging international action to halt the Saudi-led air campaign, which has caused the bulk of civilian casualties.

Mohamed Ali Al-Houthi, a senior rebel leader, said those urging a cease-fire should “translate their desire to bring peace in Yemen into action, stop the bombing of Yemenis immediately and lift the siege on Yemen.” The coalition has meanwhile been massing troops on the outskirts of the Red Sea port of Hodeida, the entry point for 70 percent of food imports and international aid, according to Yemeni officials, including some who are inside the city. Rebels meanwhile were taking up positions along the front lines. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief journalists. UAE-led forces have been trying to capture the city for months, but have been halted on its outskirts by the Houthis, seasoned fighters who have held their ground despite years of heavy airstrikes.

The coalition has waged war on the Houthis since March 2015 in an effort to restore Yemen’s internationally-recognized government, whose authority has been largely confined to the southern city of Aden since the rebels seized Sanaa and much of northern Yemen in 2014.

The war is widely seen as a proxy battle pitting Saudi Arabia and the UAE against Iran. UN envoys have hosted several rounds of peace talks but have made no progress. The Saudi-backed government has demanded the Houthis withdraw from Sanaa and other areas, something the rebels have always refused to do. The Yemeni government welcomed the cease-fire calls and said it was ready to discuss “confidencebuilding measures,” while accusing the Houthis of “intransigence” in past negotiations.

Sultan al-Samaey, a member of the Houthis’ Political Council, said the first step was to end the attacks by “aggressor states which are supported by the United States of America.” But he said that over the longer term, the rebels would only support “a peace which will preserve our independence,” without elaborating. Saudi Arabia is unlikely to agree to any solution that would leave a Houthirun entity on its southern border. The Houthis have repeatedly fired longrange missiles into Saudi Arabia, and have struck its capital, Riyadh. Ordinary Yemenis have suffered immensely as the stalemated war has dragged on, but even so, many expressed skepticism about the Trump administration’s calls for a cease-fire, especially one that would leave the country divided. Ayoub al-Tamimi, a pro-Houthi political activist in Sanaa, said a ceasefire would “plant land mines in the future of the region.”

“There is no solution that can come from (President Donald) Trump or the Democrats, only booby traps,” he said. In areas closer to the fighting, even a temporary reprieve would be welcome. The confl ict in Yemen has so far killed an estimated 10,000 people and left around two-thirds of the population of 27 million relying on aid, with more than 8 million at risk of starvation. The International Committee for the Red Cross said Wednesday that its team in Hodeida this week found dreadful living conditions for thousands of displaced families, “who own only the clothes they wear and survive on a little rice or a thin mix of fl our and water, if they find any food to eat at all.” “We know this is out of humanitarian hands, we know this is a political issue,” Avril Patterson, the ICRC’s health coordinator in Yemen told the BBC on Thursday. “We need cessation of hostilities so that the country can rebuild.”

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government said on Thursday it was ready to work on confidence-building measures under UN-led peace efforts as the United States pressed for an end to a war that has pushed Yemen to the brink of starvation. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who are leading a coalition fighting Yemen’s Iranian-aligned Houthi insurgents in a confl ict that has lasted more than three years, have yet to publicly comment on calls by the United States and Britain for a ceasefire. The fighting has killed more than 10,000 people, according to United Nations figures. The alliance, which relies on Western arms and intelligence, was on Wednesday still sending troops to the Houthi-held port city of Hodeidah where it has massed thousands of forces in recent days, pro-coalition Yemeni military sources said. The Kingdom’s ties with the West have been strained by the furore over the killing of a prominent Saudi journalist at Riyadh’s consulate in Istanbul on Oct 2, and its conduct in the Yemen war, in which hundreds of civilians have been killed in air strikes, has also come under closer scrutiny. Any full-scale assault on the densely populated Red Sea city or port, which serves as a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, would further complicate relations with its main Western alllies and risk triggering a famine in the impoverished country.

The internationally-recognized government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi said it was ready to return to the negotiating table after UNled consultations collapsed in September when the Houthi delegation failed to show up. “The Yemeni government is ready to immediately discuss all confidence building measures,” it said in a statement. Those steps should include freeing of prisoners, support for the central bank, reopening of airports and UN monitoring of Hodeidah port to prevent arms smuggling, it added. The Houthis, who accuse the government of preventing their delegation from travelling to the last round of consultations, said on Tuesday that they are also willing to re-engage.

The coalition says that seizing control of Hodeidah would force the Houthi movement to its knees by cutting off its main supply line. But a previous offensive in June failed to achieve any gains and was halted to give peace talks a chance although battles between the warring sides have continued on and off. The Houthis still control the capital Sanaa and the most populated areas of the country despite the air superiority of the Saudi-led coalition in the confl ict, which is seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The surprise US call for a ceasefire in Yemen marks a growing sense that Saudi Arabia’s campaign has proven disastrous, but experts say more action is needed to end the devastating war. On Tuesday, Mattis urged a halt in the three-year Saudi-led assault to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen, the impoverished country mired in what the UN has called the world’s worst humanitarian catastrophe. Pompeo called for an end to air strikes “in all populated areas” — an

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