An aircraft of the UN has taken off this Monday in Sana’a, the capital of Yemen, with 50 casualties of war-Huthi that they will be treated in Oman. The gesture, finally accepted by the Government recognized by the international community and very much celebrated by the Government rebel, unlocks the efforts up to now unsuccessful United Nations sit down to talk to both parties, in war for almost four years. No one makes illusions. The road is still long and full of pitfalls. THE COUNTRY has interviewed the Foreign ministers of the two sides of the conflict, Khaled al-Yemani and Hisham Sharaf, and although their positions could not be more different, both claim to want the special envoy of the UN, Martin Griffiths, to be successful.
“we Want to give you all the possibilities the lord Griffiths, who achieved something in Stockholm”, says The Yemani, the holder of Foreign Government-in-exile of Abdrabbo Mansur Hadi, on the phone from Riyadh. “We are ready for peace because we are tired of this war without sense”, affirms for his part, Sharaf, of the Government of National Salvation formed in Sana’a by Ansarullah (the movement of the rebel Huthi) and the branch of the General Congress of the people (CGP) of the assassinated former president Ali Abdullah Saleh who supported the rebellion. On the one and the other hangs the threat of famine that threatens almost half of the 28 million yemenis.
Khaled al-Yemani (left), owner of Outside of the Government-in-exile of Abdrabbo Mansur Hadi, and Hisham Sharaf, minister of Foreign affairs of the Government rebel. GETTY / Office of the minister
The quote is from this Tuesday, in the castle of Johannesbergs, about twenty kilometers from the airport of Stockholm. Before you get underway, the government delegation, headed by The Yemani, waiting for their opponents to take the plane that Kuwait has been assigned to pick them up. “We have to be sure that the other party is going to be there”, justified the minister, by putting in evidence the enormous distrust among them. Last September, the Huthi refused to travel to Geneva because the coalition of arab that supports Hadi prevented the departure of their war-wounded. The head of the delegation, rebel is now Mohamed Abdelsalam, the spokesman of Ansarullah.
the aim of The talks, “queries” called Sharaf, is to establish some confidence-building measures basic to consolidate the break in the fighting, reached in mid-November and will enable to negotiate the political transition to which it aspires to the UN. The exchange of prisoners of war seems to be the point most advanced. The Yemani figure in 600 rebels in the hands of government forces, and waits for the release of some 4,000 detainees of their field, including general Mahmud al-Subaihi, who was minister of Defense when the Huthi took power at the beginning of 2015, a brother of president Hadi, and two other senior prisoners since then. Sharaf speaks of “several hundred” without specifying. The Red Cross will be responsible for managing the exchange.
Both parties agree on the need to strengthen the Central Bank so that it can start to pay civil servants. But that’s just all coincidence. While The Yemani says that last Friday they started to pay the pensions of the retired and soon hope to do the same thing with the salaries of health personnel, Sharaf ensures that has not yet been carried out. This point is crucial because from the beginning of the war, the salaries of 1.2 million public employees, they were practically the only source of income for yemeni families and 18 months who do not receive them. As a result many teachers, doctors, nurses, or responsible for the maintenance of the water plants stopped going to their jobs because they can’t even afford the cost of transportation. The majority of the officers, as of the population, live in the area under the control Huthi, surrounded by government forces.
hence the importance of the third measure of confidence: the reopening of the airport of Sana’a. The coalition arab, under whose control is the Kalebet airspace of yemen, closed to commercial traffic two years ago. “It is key to peace, if it does not materialize there will be nothing that we can call the peace process”, underlines Sharaf marking a red line. But the other side is wary, fearing that the rebels use it to stock up on weapons. “If, as we proposed several months ago accepted that all aircraft entering and leaving by the airport of Aden [under the control of the Government of Hadi], tomorrow we can open the Sana’a,” says The Yemani. “We are willing to cooperate with the UN to verify that we violated the law, but we do not accept that condition,” replies his opponent.
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Finally, before moving on to the larger issues, in Sweden, is going to address that “all parties to facilitate the access of social assistance and humanitarian aid”. The Government of Hadi (and some international NGOS) accused the Huthi blocking the passage of trucks that distribute food, to take ownership of their content and sell it on the black market. “If you’re going to Sana’a, you can view it with their own eyes,” suggests to The Yemani. “That will give us the evidence. In all wars there are people who commit abuses; we have asked the UN to provide us the data so we can take action”, it is argued Sharaf.
Only if the two parties reach a consensus on these four points, it will be passed to the negotiations as such. “If nothing, we will have the right to move on hodeida governorates”, warns The Yemani making clear the risk of failure. Hodeida governorates, the last great port in the hands of the rebels, is since last June, the main front active. Given that by its docks enters the 70% of the food, it also means the difference between life and death for the 14 million yemenis threatened by starvation. The Huthi have accepted the joint management of the port with the UN, but not withdraw from the city. “It is our city. We’re not going to leave it in the hands of the sudanese, emiratíes and saudis”, proclaims Sharaf in reference to the troops that support the government forces.
If the rebels accuse their neighbors of having unleashed an unnecessary war, the Government of Hadi sees its rivals as a tool of Iran. “If Iran ceases to intervene in the affairs of the yemeni, we can solve our problems tomorrow,” argues The Yemani. Sharaf, for his part, denies that helps. “We are not receiving any assistance from Iran, although I would not mind to have it”, granted. “There are those who claim that some factions-Huthi received the support of the Revolutionary Guard, but I don’t what I have seen.”
From both sides, it argues that the Huthi have to have a political presence in a future Yemen. “If they accept the resolution 2216 [of the Security Council of the UN], they are welcome and we will see the way of your participation until the general elections”, supported The Yemani. But to your Government, this resolution, which requires reversing the coup-Huthi and that this group will deliver the weapons and become a political party, is non-negotiable. “We cannot accept that a rebel group type Hezbollah to control the country. We are not Lebanon”, he insists.
“Since we are not a militia. We have organized troops,” he responds Sharaf who insists that “any security arrangement and delivery of weapons must be applied to all militias and military groups in all of Yemen.” “We will not accept that the lord Griffiths set conditions only for Ansarullah and the CGP in Sana’a,” he sums up, showing the distance we still have to iterate through the parts before that the hope that has been awakened in the Stockholm meeting becomes a tangible improvement to the yemenis.
