Ahmed Shaaban (Aden, Cairo)
The year 2023 witnessed great efforts to bring peace to Yemen, including movements led by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Sultanate of Oman, and the United Nations to search for a sustainable political solution acceptable to all Yemeni parties, and a permanent and comprehensive ceasefire for the conflict and war that has been ongoing for 9 years between the Houthi group and the legitimate government.
New agreement
A few days before we bid farewell to the year 2023, and after discussions and negotiations that lasted for years, the United Nations announced the arrival of a new agreement that is a great glimmer of hope for bringing peace to Yemen and ending the war, as the parties to the conflict pledged to adhere to a set of measures that include implementing a ceasefire that includes all of Yemen.
The international envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that the Yemeni parties have committed to a new ceasefire and engaging in an inclusive political peace process, and developing a road map under the auspices of the United Nations that includes these commitments and supports their implementation to end the war.
The road map includes paying all public sector salaries, resuming oil exports, opening roads in Taiz and other parts of Yemen, and continuing to ease restrictions imposed on Sanaa Airport and Hodeidah Port. This new opportunity is expected to lead to achieving tangible results and progress towards lasting peace in 2024.
The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Dr. Rashad Al-Alimi, had discussed with the UN envoy to Yemen in Riyadh, steps regarding reaching a ceasefire agreement that addresses the humanitarian file, and then starting a political process under the auspices of the United Nations.
During the meeting, Al-Alimi called on the international community to exert maximum pressure on Al-Houthi and push him to deal seriously with the current peace efforts, to expand humanitarian benefits for the Yemenis, most notably paying the salaries of employees in areas under Houthi control.
Riyadh negotiations
In September 2023, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, with the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman, hosted a Houthi negotiating delegation to discuss the peace process in Yemen and complete discussions and discussions, based on the Saudi initiative announced in March 2021, which aims to find a political solution, a comprehensive ceasefire, and the transition from the stage of conflicts to stability. .
This is the first public visit of the Houthis to the Kingdom, and it came about 5 months after a visit by a Saudi delegation to Sanaa in April 2023, to discuss a permanent truce and revive the peace process, as this visit revived hopes for reaching a political solution to the bloody conflict in Yemen.
The Houthis discussed with Saudi officials the final formula for a comprehensive and permanent ceasefire, and reaching a sustainable political solution acceptable to all Yemeni parties, provided that the parties to the conflict would then begin negotiations directly to reach a political solution under the auspices of the United Nations and with the support of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman, and this is what happened recently. In the international agreement.
Prisoner exchange
The year 2023 witnessed the success of the exchange of prisoners and detainees in Yemen between the legitimate government and the Houthi group, under the supervision of the Red Cross and the United Nations, and included the release and exchange of nearly 900 prisoners in stages, in an important step to build confidence and a glimmer of hope that gave impetus to diplomatic efforts aimed at ending the war. And bring peace.
Targeting ships
During the past weeks, the Houthis have escalated their threats to the security and stability of the region and the world by targeting maritime shipping lines in the Red Sea, Bab al-Mandab, and the Gulf of Aden, and they have continued to destabilize the security and stability of the region, which threatens to undermine efforts to calm the situation, thwart and abort peace efforts, renew the truce, and return to negotiations.
Hostile actions
Yemeni political analyst, Mahmoud Al-Taher, said that the Houthi group was always evasive to prolong the war in Yemen in order for its interlocutors to accept the conditions it put on the negotiating table, including officially recognizing it, handing over the state’s capabilities, and controlling the revenues of the port of Hodeidah. Al-Tahir expected, in a statement to Al-Ittihad, that the peace negotiations with the Houthi group, sponsored by the United Nations, during the next year, would reach a temporary truce imposed on everyone.
The political analyst pointed out that “Al-Houthi rejects the legitimacy in Yemen to be a party to any dialogue or peace negotiations,” noting that Al-Houthi is seeking a truce in preparation for waging an internal war against all political components, warning that Al-Houthi does not want a political solution and does not want to end the war.
stumbling block
Mahmoud Al-Taher pointed out that the Houthi history of violating covenants remains a stumbling block to the return of peace and political settlement in Yemen, pointing out that the group is meeting Arab and international peace efforts with hostile acts against the Yemeni people and threatening the security and stability of the region, the latest of which is piracy crimes, warning that targeting commercial ships Threatening international shipping traffic is not in the interest of achieving peace.
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