Inter-Yemeni consultations resume in Kuwait

Forming political council violates UN resolution: envoy

KUWAIT CITY, July 28, (Agencies): Inter-Yemeni conciliation consultations resumed on Thursday under chairmanship of the UN envoy for the Yemeni crisis Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed following his participation in the latest Arab Summit hosted by Mauritania.

The international trouble-shooter held, as part of the second round of consultations that began on July 16, a meeting with Kuwait Acting Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Alkhaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and a number of ambassadors, discussing the Yemeni file namely efforts that have been exerted to reach a final settlement to the crisis.

Cheikh Ahmed is scheduled to hold, later today, separate meetings with the Yemeni Government delegation and representatives of the opposition parties, Ansarullah and the General Peoples’ Congress, to pursue discussions on main topics in the peace process agenda.

The talks are focusing on key issues namely fighting cessation, activating work of the pacification committee and other commissions, forming a military council to be tasked with overseeing gunmen’s withdrawal, guns’ handover and opening safe passages for delivering humanitarian aid to civilians in need.

The prisoners’ committee held meetings on Sunday and Monday, discussing mechanisms for freeing the prisoners according to an accord reached among the parties during the first round of consultations.

The State of Kuwait has recently warned the Yemeni parties that they must reach a settlement within days, or it would no longer host the UN-sponsored consultations.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Thursday that the agreement by Ansarullah movement, the General People’s Congress (GPC) and their allies on forming a political council is a strong violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

The envoy called on all Yemeni parties, especially the “Houthis”, to avoid taking such unilateral measures which may undermine the political transition in Yemen.

The agreement on forming the political council with wide political, military, security, economic, administrative and social powers contravenes the commitments provided by Ansarullah and the GPC to support the UN-led peace process. The announcement of unilateral governing arrangements is not in line with the peace process and endangers the substantial progress made during the Kuwait talks.

He added that the agreement breaches clearly Yemen’s constitution, and the provisions of the GCC initiative and its implementation mechanisms.

Shiite rebels and their allies Thursday formed a 10-member “supreme council” to run Yemen, in what the government described as a blow to the already stalled UN-brokered peace talks.

The Shiite Houthi rebels and the General People’s Congress of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh have agreed to “form a supreme political council of 10 members”, according to a statement carried by a rebel-run news agency. It did not name the council’s members. “The aim is to unify efforts to confront the aggression by Saudi Arabia and its allies,” the statement said in reference to the Riyadh-led Arab coalition that launched a military campaign against the rebels in March last year in support of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.

The job of the council will be to “manage state affairs politically, militarily, economically, administratively, socially and in security”.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi said the new move represents a “new coup” and blamed the rebels for “missing an opportunity for peace.”

The rebels have “missed an opportunity for peace which the Yemeni people needed ... and insisted on foiling the negotiations,” Mikhlafi said on his Twitter account.

“We call on the international community to condemn the new coup against the constitutional legitimacy and hold the Houthi-Saleh alliance responsible for foiling the talks,” he said.

The rebels overran Sanaa in September 2014 and expanded their control to other parts of Yemen.

In February last year, they had set up a “Supreme Revolutionary Council” to run the country after they announced the dissolution of the government and parliament.

UN-sponsored talks between the rebels and representatives of Hadi’s government, which began on April 21, have failed to make headway.

The negotiations being held in Kuwait were launched after the United Nations secured an agreement on a ceasefire in the war-torn country.