Trump pick for Sanaa envoy criticises Tehran

The Trump administration’s nominee for ambassador to Sanaa said Washington had started to plan for post-conflict recovery efforts.

Christopher Henzel told Congress in his confirmation hearing on Tuesday that “there is no military solution to the conflict and it is a tragedy what’s been happening in Yemen. The administration is working to end the hostilities”.

Mr Henzel, the charge d’affaires at the American embassy in Riyadh, urged legislators to put more emphasis on the post-conflict situation if a peace agreement is reached.

“Once a peace agreement is reached, experts project that there could be over one million former combatants in Yemen,” he said.

“To prepare for this, the State Department is planning longterm engagement on post-conflict security sector reform and disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration needs.”

Mr Henzel especially emphasised security co-operation between the Yemeni government and the Saudi-led coalition to help security forces fight smuggling and terrorism.

After heavy criticism from legislators about the US role in Yemen and its logistical support for the Arab Coalition, he said the US must prepare “to have a strong presence in a unified Yemen, despite future threats that may be posed by the efforts of rebuilding and unification”.

Mr Henzel warned of the humanitarian and political ramifications of the Yemen war.

“This protracted war has exacerbated the world’s largest food insecurity emergency and cholera epidemic, and created an economic crisis,” he said.

Mr Henzel saw the conflict as leading “to collapsed state institutions, local power vacuums and ungoverned spaces that the Houthis and terrorists have exploited to threaten important partners in the region, and has threatened US national security interests”.

He said the war had complicated “our ongoing counter-terrorism efforts and has facilitated Iran’s ambitions, further threatening regional stability”.

Mr Henzel criticised Iran’s role and its arming and providing support to the Houthis, but saw a peace agreement with the Yemeni rebels as the only way forward.

Speaking at the same hearing was Gen Kenneth McKenzie Jr, the administration’s nominee to lead the US Central Command.

Gen McKenzie told the Senate armed services committee that US involvement in Yemen advanced the goal of a peace deal between the Houthis and the Yemeni government, The

Washington Post reported. “I believe our ability to participate and drive those discussions requires that we remain in contact with [the UAE] and the kingdom of Saudi Arabia,” he said.

Congress is set to vote next week on a bill that would end the US role in the war.

Nominee Christopher Henzel is the charge d’affaires at the US embassy in Riyadh