The first picture shows representatives of the warring parties, huthierna and regeringssidan, who just completed eight days of negotiations in Johannesbergs castle in the Roslagen. Under the leadership of UN special envoy, Martin Griffiths, they have tried to find ways to reach an end to the almost four year long war in Yemen. The UN secretary-general, the Portuguese António Guterres, was flown in to the meeting to participate in the final phase of the negotiations.
Against all odds, the two bitter enemies could agree on some points. The brittle yemeni fredsplantan has grown a little stronger. Not much, just some timidly clinging threads. But given the low expectations before the meeting, it may nevertheless be considered as a progress.
the Peace talks on the situation in Yemen ended on Thursday. Photo: Roger Turesson
the twelve-year-old yemeni girl Abrar Ibrahim. She dominated the newspaper the New York Times op-ed piece on Thursday. Severely malnourished fighting Abrar for his life at a hospital in Aden in southern Yemen. She weighs less than thirteen pounds – it is normalvikten for a Swedish two-year-old. Tolvåringens starving body has begun to devour itself, the ribs look like at any time, to be able to penetrate the dull skin.
Abrar is one of about 14 million people affected by famine, or worse, in the Jemenkrigets track – it is half of the country’s population.
the talks Have in Johannesberg increased Abrars chances to survive?
In this perspective, the agreements reached in the Jemensamtalen be regarded as vague and sparse.
The biggest success of the negotiations is that the warring parties to pull back their weapons from the port city of Hodeidah on the Red sea. Hodeidah is held by huthierna since the onset of the war. This unloaded nearly 80 percent of Yemen’s imports and the country’s main fishing port. Then in the summer, heavy fighting continued in and around the city, something that further exacerbated the humanitarian situation.
have put a lot of effort to come to an agreement on a cease-fire in Hodeidah, where the united nations to have a role as a supervisor. But already at the press conference which terminated the talks it emerged that the parties have different perceptions of what is actually agreed.
Khalid al-Yamani, minister of foreign affairs of the internationally recognized government, called the settlement “hypothetical” and stressed that the armed huthierna must take the first step.
the Settlement, if fångutväxling is yet another concrete achievement. During the war, the two warring sides taken both the civilians and soldiers to catch. It is about the tens of thousands of people sit locked up in squalid conditions. At the talks on the Johannesbergs castle agreed regeringssidan and huthierna for an exchange of prisoners shall be monitored by the International committee of the red cross.
In other important issues were the delegations did not agree. It comes to mix other things, the opening of the international airport in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital. Sana’a and the airport is held by huthierna but sky blocked by regeringssidan and their allies, mainly saudi Arabia. During the talks at the castle reached the parties until an agreement on the airport.
Martin Griffiths as for the united nations on behalf of trying to mediate between the warring has gained respect at the tables. Griffiths, who has been involved in the tricky peace processes in the past – in east Timor, in Libya, in Afghanistan, in northern Ireland – is very much a pragmatist who does not spend time to condemn the parties ‘ dirty reputation as regards war crimes and other violations.
” I’m here to urge them to stop the war. Nothing else, heard Griffiths say, in a pause in the negotiations.
the UN envoy is also keen to sustain the momentum in the peace negotiations and would like to have seen that the parties separated with a date and a location determined for the next step in the talks.
if it is complicated to open up the channels to food security, so is the next supposed step in the talks than the more svårframkomliga.
to achieve a future of Yemen in which power is divided between the so-called internationally recognised government and huthierna. In maktdelningsfrågan the parties have so far shown great kompromissmisslöshet and intransigence.
during the press meeting illustrated UN chief António Guterres the future obstacles with a twist on the old worn out cliché about the amount of liquid in the glass – is it half empty, or half full?
Guterres laid Lokaflaskan who stood in front of him on the podium and poured in a splash in an empty plastic glasses:
” Before we started the talks was the glass completely empty. Now we have filled in a little bit, a little bit of water. But much remains to be done before the glass is even half full.
