The UN envoy Griffiths insists not to amend the "joint declaration" initiative
English - Monday 02 November 2020 الساعة 05:43 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
Political sources revealed that the interim President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi had received the latest draft of the comprehensive ceasefire initiative in Yemen prepared by the UN envoy Martin Griffiths.
The London-based Al-Arab newspaper quoted the sources as saying that the Yemeni presidency is working on putting new notes on the "joint declaration" in its fourth version, of which the UN envoy delivered a copy to the Houthis during a meeting with their negotiating delegation in Muscat last Monday, in a new round of UN moves that he started. Griffiths visit the Saudi capital, Riyadh.
The newspaper pointed out that the Griffiths initiative, which is considered a mixture of the results of the Kuwait consultations and the initiative of former US Secretary of State John Kerry, is an introduction to canceling the previous references and creating a new ground for a settlement in Yemen that prepares for a new round of consultations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis this November in Switzerland.
The newspaper confirmed that the international envoy adheres not to make any additional changes to his initiative tagged with the "joint declaration" in its fourth edition. This is what the "legitimacy" is actively calling for, and the Houthis are hinting at it in order to extract more political and economic gains.
The draft joint declaration, which Griffiths submitted early last July, stipulates a comprehensive ceasefire in all parts of Yemen, including the fronts where non-government actors are involved in confrontations with the Houthis.
The ceasefire includes all land, air and sea military operations, in reference to the operations of the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, the draft of which includes a partial one related to stopping Houthi attacks targeting its territory.
A military coordination committee is formed under the leadership of the United Nations and with the participation of military representatives from both sides of the agreement to monitor the ceasefire and present the general strategic direction to the joint operations center and local committees in the governorates.
The committee also has an operations center that includes liaison officers from the parties and representatives of the United Nations, similar to the Redeployment Coordination Committee in Hodeidah.
Under the draft joint declaration submitted by the UN envoy to the Yemeni government and the Houthis, joint measures are taken on the humanitarian and economic side through committees formed on both sides, to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic and release all prisoners, detainees, missing persons and arbitrarily detained persons, a matter that failed to be implemented earlier according to the Stockholm Agreements signed under the auspices of the United Nations in late 2018.
According to the proposed announcement by Griffiths, the Military Coordination Committee supervises the opening of main roads between cities, and the draft includes a provision on economic measures such as disbursing salaries of public sector employees under the salary lists in 2014 before the Houthi coup and the start of their disbursement through a joint technical committee on both sides.
The agreement includes the formation of a joint committee to address the technical and financial aspects of repairing the oil pipeline coming from Marib to Ras Issa port in Hodeidah, with the aim of resuming the pumping of oil as well as resuming the work of the Marib gas station, which means, according to observers, the Houthi group’s involvement in all state resources outside its control This explains the increasing Houthi military pressure on the Marib governorate and the threat to invade it.
