DUBAI: The Yemeni government stressed on Friday its commitment to bring peace a day after the UN announced negotiuations in Geneva next month.
Vice President Ali Mohsen Al-Ahmar said his government supports the United Nation’s efforts exerted by its envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to achieve peace and resume the political process, Saudi state channel Al-Ekhbariya reported.
He said the government wants a lasting peace based on three reference point s; the Gulf Initiative to transfer power from former President Ali Abdullah Saleh to a new constitution, the National Dialogue Conference that took place after the Arab Spring protests removed Saleh, and UN Security Council Resolution 2216 that called for the Houthis to hand over their weapons and retreat from the territory they seized after they sparked the conflict in 2014.
During a meeting with the British ambassador, Mohsen said the Yemeni army – supported by the Saudi-led Arab coalition – liberated and maintained stability in several areas in Yemen and reduced the threat of the Iran-backed Houthis on international waters.
Griffiths announced talks between the warring parties during a Security Council meeting on Thursday. Yemen's permanent representative to the UN, Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak, said during the meeting that efforts made by the UN through its special envoy must be in accordance with Yemen’s constitutional powers.
He stated that the peace talks should not violate international norms and empowering militias and de facto authorities, Yemen’s official news agency Saba News reported.
Bin Mubarak also told the UN Security Council that peace cannot be achieved solely by expressing support for Griffiths' efforts to start dialogue, and that more political pressure should be put on the Houthi militias.
“It should be made clear that the international community will not allow Yemeni suffering to continue, the hijacking of the state, and threats to international navigation. It is time that resolutions of international legitimacy are adhered to,” he said.
Meanwhile Yemen’s ambassador to Brussels, Mohamed Taha Mustafa, renewed his country’s accusation that Iran was supplying the Houthi militias with money and weapons.
He said Iran was intervening in the internal affairs of Yemen by supporting the militia with money and weapons and sending political and military experts to the Houthis.
