An expanded version of the Sweden agreement looms on the horizon of the Yemeni solution
English - Tuesday 30 March 2021 الساعة 12:46 pm
NewsYemen, Al Arab:
Well-informed Yemeni sources revealed that the talks of the United Nations envoy Martin Griffiths and the American Tim Lenderking with Yemeni officials in Riyadh dealt with efforts to implement a package of measures that precede the resumption of the consultations, including the ceasefire, the reopening of Sanaa International Airport and the easing of restrictions imposed on the port of Hodeidah, which are the same items. Which were included in the Saudi and American initiatives and the UN envoy’s plan, "the joint declaration."
The sources pointed out that the ideas conveyed by the UN and US envoys to lead the "legitimacy" are focused on the results of the dialogue that took place during the past few days with the Houthis in the Omani capital, Muscat, who presented new conditions for a ceasefire and to engage in upcoming political consultations under the auspices of the United Nations.
With the Houthis continuing to intensify their military attacks, whether on the city of Marib or targeting Saudi cities and oil installations, despite international and international demands to stop this escalation, many observers interested in Yemeni affairs express concerns that any upcoming dialogue or agreement between the Houthis and the Yemeni government will turn into an expanded version. Among the Sweden agreements that prevented the Houthis from losing the most important Yemeni port on the Red Sea without implementing any of its other clauses related to the ceasefire or lifting the siege on the city of Taiz, and even the prisoner exchange file that was implemented selectively serves the Houthi agenda.
While the Houthi militias seek to extract new gains on the ground, to strengthen their negotiating position and reinforce the de facto policy they imposed in their areas of control, Yemeni political sources indicate the emergence of another problem standing in the way of any upcoming dialogue between the legitimacy and the Houthi rebels, which is the remarkable increase in Iranian influence over the group’s decision. Since the arrival of the officer in the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Hassan Erlo, to Sana'a as an illegal ambassador to the internationally recognized government of Sana'a.
The UN and US envoys are continuing a new round of talks on the Yemeni file in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, which included a meeting with Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Foreign Minister Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, and a number of Saudi officials.
According to the same sources, the Houthi negotiating delegation in Muscat called for stopping the operations of the Arab coalition in Yemen and reopening Sanaa airport and the port of Hodeidah as part of the humanitarian entitlements that should not be classified in the category of concessions by the coalition and the internationally recognized Yemeni government, and the Houthis demanded the lifting of any restrictions on flying. From Sanaa airport so that it is not subject to any inspection or control by the Arab coalition, and that flights are not restricted to specific destinations, as stipulated by the Saudi initiative, which is the same thing that the Houthis demanded with regard to the port of Hodeidah.
Diplomatic sources told Al-Arab that the UN envoy is openly adopting the Houthi demands, in the context of his tireless efforts to remove any obstacles to holding a new round of consultations between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, similar to the Sweden consultations.
The Yemeni President’s meetings with the UN and US envoys followed similar meetings that the two envoys held with the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Yemeni government, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak.
Yemeni political sources revealed to “Al-Arab” what happened in it, pointing to the reservations of the leaders of the legitimacy to make more concessions to the Houthis regarding confidence-building measures that precede the consultations, expressing their fear of repeating the model of the Sweden agreement that granted the Houthis political and military gains that enabled them to continue their war And targeting the liberated areas and neighboring countries.
The sources pointed out that the Yemeni legitimacy leadership asked the UN and US envoys to provide guarantees that the Houthis would abide by any upcoming agreement, and stop their military attacks on Marib and Saudi territory using drones and ballistic missiles.
And in confirmation of what “Al Arab” published earlier, about the UN envoy to Yemen’s endeavor to extract new concessions from the internationally recognized government to encourage the Houthis to engage in a political process, all UN statements about the results of the meetings in Muscat and Riyadh focused on the implementation of the provisions that were made. The Houthis are demanding it, without any indication of the concessions they must make in return.
The official account of the Office of the UN Envoy to Yemen stated, on Twitter, that Griffiths held a meeting on Sunday with President Abdo Rabbu Mansour Hadi in Riyadh, where he “briefed him on the results of his meetings in Muscat, and discussed the efforts made to reach a ceasefire agreement across the country, and to open an airport. Sana'a, allowing the entry of fuel and other goods into Yemen through the ports of Hodeidah, and the resumption of the political process.
The sources linked the escalation of the Houthi targeting of Saudi lands and the increase in the liquidation operations among the Houthi leaders and the arrival of Erlo to Sana'a, in an indication of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards assuming the leadership and decision-making inside the center of the Houthi group.
The sources considered that Tehran's haste to declare its influence in Sana'a, which it has been denying, and the appointment of a military ruler for it in the Houthi-controlled areas, as an attempt to block any bilateral understandings between the group and the Arab alliance in which Iranian interests are not present.
The sources expected that Iran would work in the coming period to move the Houthi card forcefully in the face of the international community, in order to obtain gains related to its nuclear file and its negotiations with Washington and the European Union, which explains the continuation of the Houthi military escalation towards Saudi territory in isolation from the signals that a delegation is trying to send. The Houthi negotiations with Riyadh on the possibility of resolving the outstanding problems between the two parties and reaching a political solution.
