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| UN’s Yemen envoy to return to region |
| 2016-11-02 |
| JEDDAH: UN’s special envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Monday he would return to the region without delay to try to convince warring parties in Yemen to reach a peace deal that would end the 19-month war in Yemen. “The dawn of peace could be near if parties decided to prioritize national interests and work on rebuilding a stable state for all people,” Ould Cheikh said on Monday. “It is now the responsibility of the delegations to prioritize peace, rather than partisan agendas. Parties must engage in good faith,” he added. “I briefed the UN Security Council today (Monday) on the latest developments in Yemen and challenges facing efforts to ensure the country’s return to peace. What Yemen is witnessing today contravenes the commitments made by the parties to the UN,” he said yesterday on his Twitter account. Yemen’s President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi rejected the latest UN peace proposal, saying it “rewards the putschists” who seized power in Sanaa, while the Houthi militias said the roadmap has “fundamental flaws.” The UN envoy stressed that he conducted consultations with the parties over the last few weeks, and presented a comprehensive and detailed roadmap to end the conflict, stressing that he roadmap is consistent with UN Security Council Resolution 2216, the GCC Initiative and the outcomes of the Yemeni National Dialogue Conference. “The roadmap contains a set of sequenced political and security steps, conducted in parallel, which would help Yemen return to peace. It foresees the creation of military and security committees, which would supervise withdrawals and handover of weapons in Sanaa, Hodeida and Taiz,” he said. “The committees would also be tasked with ensuring the complete end of military violence and the safety of population and state institutions. The roadmap lays out interim political arrangements, including appointment of a new vice president and the formation of a Government of National Unity,” said the envoy, adding that the international community supports the roadmap because it includes guarantees for the political representation all political groupings. Urging the Security Council to lend its full support to the peace plan, an immediate cessation of hostilities and the release of detainees by the warring parties, Ould Cheikh said that if the warring parties in Yemen do not reach a peace agreement soon, the country could collapse, with dire consequences for the entire region. The United Nations’ humanitarian chief Stephen O’Brien told the Security Council on Monday that 80 percent of Yemenis, some 21.2 million people, need some form of humanitarian assistance and over 2 million people, including 370,000 children, are suffering from malnutrition. The country now has 61 confirmed and 1,700 suspected cases of cholera, O’Brien told the Security Council by telephone from Bahrain. |
| Posted by:badanov |