UN Yemen envoy to visit Hodeida today
GRIFFITHS HOPES TO LAY GROUNDWORK FOR SWEDEN TALKS; MEETS MILITIA CHIEF
The United Nations envoy to Yemen will visit the Al Houthiheld battleground port city of Hodeida this week, a UN source said yesterday, as he presses warring parties to uphold pledges to join peace talks.
Martin Griffiths, who arrived in the militant-held capital Sana’a on Wednesday, was in the country to lay the groundwork for next month’s negotiations in Sweden.
The British diplomat’s visit to Hodeida today is aimed at encouraging Iran-aligned Al Houthi rebels and government forces backed by a Saudi-led coalition to stay calm ahead of the talks in Stockholm, the UN source said.
Griffiths met Al Houthi chief Abdul Malek Al Houthi yesterday to discuss logistics ahead of the planned peace talks, a rebel spokesman said.
The two men addressed “what can facilitate new discussions in December and procedures needed to transport injured and sick for treatment abroad and bring them back”, militia spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam said on Twitter.
The conflict in Yemen, which erupted in 2014 after an Al Houthi coup forced the legitimate government out of Sana’a, has killed thousands and sparked what the United Nations has called the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.
Saudi Arabia and an Arab coalition joined the battle to restore the government of Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi and to combat what it views as Iranian expansionism into its southern neighbour.
Humanitarian crisis
UN agencies say up to 14 million Yemenis would be at risk of starvation if fighting closes the port of Hodeida, through which nearly all of the country’s imports and humanitarian aid pass.
Both sides have in the past week expressed support for the envoy and his mission to hold discussions, but military officials have said that intermittent clashes continued to erupt in the city of Hodeida.
Mohammad Ali Al Houthi, head of the militia’s Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, yesterday tweeted that he “hopes there is no escalation in military operations by the coalition follow ing Griffiths’ visit to Hodeida”.
“We hope that Griffiths’ visit carries constructive suggestions regarding the economic and humanitarian situation.”
United States Defence Secretary Jim Mattis confirmed on Wednesday peace discussions between the Al Houthis and the internationally-recognised government would take place early December.
He said Saudi Arabia and the UAE were “fully on board”. “It looks like that very, very early in December, up in Sweden, we’ll see both the Al Houthi rebel side and the UN-recognised government, President (Abd Rabbo Mansour) Hadi’s government, will be up there.”