Griffiths to ‘escort’ Houthis to Sweden for Yemen talks

The UN special envoy to Yemen is expected to ensure Houthi attendance at peace talks next week by going to Sanaa to personally accompany the rebel delegation, diplomatic sources told The National on Thursday.

Martin Griffiths will travel with the rebels from the Yemeni capital to Sweden early in the week to prevent the collapse of another round of UN-mediated peace talks over Yemen’s civil war. The rebels refused to travel to Geneva for talks organised in September.

“Peace talks are hoping to start on December 5, but the negotiations between the two sides are yet to be finalised,” the diplomatic source said. Logistics for the new round have not been finalised.

The date has not been confirmed by the UN, but hopes are high for the long-awaited discussions, led by the UN, between Houthi rebels and Yemen’s internationally recognised government. The two sides are unlikely to meet face to face but Mr Griffiths and his team will shuttle between the delegations.

Mr Griffiths plans to steer the talks towards specific objectives, such as unifying Yemen’s central bank and setting up prisoner swaps to encourage engagement in the process.

“Talks are ongoing between the government and UN officials, [but] nothing has been confirmed,” Hamza Al Kamali, a government delegation member who was at the Geneva talks, told The National.

The Yemeni official confirmed that Mr Griffiths will travel to Sanaa to ensure that the rebels participate. Mr Griffthis is currently meeting with Yemeni civil society members in Jordan to discuss the steps leading up to the peace talks, Mr Al Kamali said.

British Ambassador to Yemen Michael Aron said on Twitter that he was looking forward to seeing the Houthi and government delegations in Stockholm.

The US sounded the alarm on Thursday about the chances of a regional conflict fuelled by the spread of Iranian weaponry to the Taliban, the Houthis and Iran’s proxies in Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

US Special Representative for Iran Brian Hook delivered a speech at a military base in Washington DC alongside an exhibition of weaponry with Farsi markings.

The munitions, found in Yemen, Afghanistan and Bahrain, included Iranian Sayyad2C surface-to-air missiles, AK-47s, small arms plus the remains of an Iranian drone.

“The same kind of rockets here today could tomorrow land in a public market in Kabul or at an international airport,” Mr Hook said.

He also referred to “credible US evidence that Iran is transferring ballistic missile technology to Shia militias in Iraq”.

The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill that would go after Iran’s support for Iraqi militias.

However, a large part of Mr Hook’s speech was focused on Yemen. This followed a decision in the US Senate to have a debate about America’s role in the war.

Mr Hook warned that “abandoning Yemen right now would be the wrong move”.

He mentioned three vital missions for the US in Yemen: helping to counter Iranbacked Houthi insurgents; fighting Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula; and protecting US citizens in Saudi Arabia.

He cautioned that abandoning Yemen might also end in Iranian control over the Bab El Mandeb strait.

If Iranian influence is not checked in Sanaa, Mr Hook predicted the “Lebanonisation of Yemen” where Houthis would emerge as another Hezbollah.

“Just as we must constrain Iran’s expansion in Syria and into the Golan Heights and in Iraq we must also prevent Iran from entrenching itself in Yemen,” he said.

The US official threw his support behind UN envoy Martin Griffiths and his bid for talks in Sweden early next month.

Asked about US strategy in countering Iran, Mr Hook mentioned sanctions and called on the European Union to improve its enforcement rules as well as to take action on missile embargoes.

Mr Hook did not exclude a military option in dealing with Iran.

“We have been very clear with the Iranian regime that we will not hesitate to use military force when our interests are threatened. I think they understand that, I think they understand that very clearly,” he said.

The US official referenced Iran being behind the Shiite militia attacks in Baghdad and Basra in September, and said the US would act decisively and swiftly if its diplomatic facilities are attacked or diplomats are injured.

He said, however, that “right now while we have the military option on the table our preference is to use all of the tools that are at our disposal diplomatically”.

Mr Hook’s event was attended by the UAE ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, Bahrain’s ambassador Abdullah bin Rashid Al Khalifa, Yemen’s Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak and others.