UAE warns against Yemen pact breach
Gargash: Al Houthis must stick to commitments for solution
The UAE’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr Anwar Mohammad Gargash, has reiterated the importance of the Sweden Agreement — a pact agreed on in December by Yemen’s warring parties.
“Before we can discuss other issues, the Sweden Agreement must be implemented,” he said, adding that Al Houthis were trying to circumvent the agreement.
“A political solution will not be achieved by the reversal of commitments,” he warned.
The Sweden agreement was the first truly successful agreement between Yemen’s internationally-recognised government backed by a Saudi-led coalition and the Iranbacked Al Houthi militants.
However, the government has accused the militants of being dishonest in their efforts to hand over control of Hodeida port to neutral parties as agreed in the pact.
They say the ceasefire has been violated 970 times by the militants and have called on the international community to hold them accountable for the breaches.
Meanwhile, British Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said yesterday the window of opportunity to turn the ceasefire in Yemen into a plan for peace was shortening.
“We now have a shortening window of opportunity to turn the ceasefire into a durable path to peace — and stop the world’s worst humanitarian crisis,” Hunt said.
“Real progress has been made to reach a political solution, but there are also real issues of trust between the two sides which mean the agreement in Stockholm has
970 violations by militants listed
not been fully implemented.”
A Saudi-led coalition joined the war in 2015 after an Al Houthi coup overthrew Yemen’s legitimate government.
President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi was placed under house arrest but later escaped, setting up temporary government headquarters in the southern city of Aden.
Since then, the coalition was able to win back large swathes of territory from the militants, but main population centers remain under Al Houthi control.
A lightning offensive by Yemeni forces last year was able to liberate much of the Al Houthi-controlled territory along the strategic Red Sea, but stopped just short of Hodeida port, the main conduit for goods and aid.
Prisoner-swap deal
International pressure was exerted on Yemeni forces to pause their assault because of the major humanitarian concerns such a battle would have. However, the government says Al Houthis are using the port to illegally smuggle in weapons from Iran to sustain their military efforts.
Nonetheless, government forces agreed to halt their offensive, but reserved their right to resume it if peace talks fail.
Also agreed on during the Sweden talks was a prisonerswap deal aimed at building confidence among the parties.
Talks last week in Jordan “made important progress” according to those privy to details of the meeting.
That headway included “providing additional information on the status of individuals included in the lists of prisoners”, it added.