Yemen govt: Roadmap only way to peace

Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, discusses future course of action with Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, UN special envoy for Yemen, in Riyadh on Thursday. (SPA)

RIYADH: Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, Yemen’s president and Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, UN special envoy for Yemen, arrived here Thursday to discuss key elements of an agreement for a peace roadmap to ensure an orderly transition to normalcy in the war-torn country.
Ahmed, Abdullatif Al-Zayani, Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) secretary-general and Adel Al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, discussed the latest developments in the political, security and humanitarian arenas in Yemen.
Ahmed shared his efforts to push the political process in accordance with the GCC-sponsored initiative and the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.
Mohamed A. Qubaty, Yemen tourism minister, told Arab News in a telephone interview from Aden that the government “stands for talks for settlement of all issues and all confrontations based on an agreement in line with strategic references.”
He added: “All issues under the peace roadmap should be dealt with in accordance with these references — GCC peace initiative with its executive mechanism, the National Dialogue outputs and the UN Security Council’s resolutions, including Resolution 2216 and Chapter VII of the UN Charter.
“With the fulfillment of the requirements of these three strategic references, we are ready to accept the roadmap,” said the minister.
The Security Council demanded in 2015 that all parties in the embattled country, particularly the Houthis, unconditionally end the violence and refrain from further unilateral actions that threaten the political transition.
The Security Council also demanded that the Houthis withdraw from all areas seized during the conflict, relinquish arms seized from military and security institutions and cease all actions falling within the authority of the legitimate government.
Furthermore, under Chapter VII of the charter, the UN body called upon the Houthis to refrain from any provocations or threats to neighboring states, release all political prisoners and individuals under house arrest or arbitrarily detained, and end the recruitment of children as soldiers.