Middle-east Arab News Opinion | Asharq Al-awsat

Four-Week-Long Yemeni Peace Talks Reach a Dead End | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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Yemeni peace talks session in Kuwait, A.P


Riyadh – U.N. sponsored Yemeni peace talks, currently held in Kuwait, have come into their fourth week of sessions with no evident results -relative to the set work agenda- surfacing.

The sole achievements so far lie in the partial understandings arrived at on the suit of insurgency-held captives, half of which that are expected to be released before early June. However, releasing captives might be hurdled spurred by the reliance on classification among the categories of political detainees and war prisoners.

A high-end Yemeni political source expressed to Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper his growing pessimism on the possibility of arriving to any agreement or solution with the Insurgency delegation. Pessimism on peace talks becoming futile is mainly triggered by the insurgency delegation’s adopted mannerism on the continuous application of pretext and skipping through agenda topics.

The insurgency delegation had fallen back on many of their undertakings and stances, which changed the situation and made negotiations tough, sources added.

Absence of international community pressure on the insurgents has hindered the latter’s commitment to resolutions of legitimate constitution, which is a case being highly flaunted at the Kuwait negotiations.

U.N. special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, on Thursday, has been able to bring both the insurgency and the government delegations together for a general common session which discussed different cases, evaluating the ongoing week-long negotiations.

According to sources placed at the negotiations, the session was only convened after all the committees reaching a dead end; which was caused by the committees’ dependency on the political progression defined by the Houthis, who restrict it to forming a new executive authority.

However, forming a new authority disagrees with the agenda set in accordance to the U.N. Security Council 2216 resolution.

Sources said that the government delegation, at the Thursday session, gave emphasis to committing to Security Council resolutions and approved standards. The government delegation also stated that discussions held beyond approved referrals are unacceptable and unwarranted.

The delegation further confirmed that it had come to Kuwait on the basis of abiding by the framework set by the U.N. Security Council resolution 2216, and not to discuss other topics, sources added.

Sources also revealed that the government delegation, at the session, had argued Yemen’s current economic standing, which is approaching its full collapse caused by the destructive economic policy militias exercised through plundering public resources, breaking down economic flow and expulsion of national capital.

The government delegation held the militia-run black market responsible for the looming economic disaster.

Moreover, the government delegation demanded that the U.N. compels the insurgency party to detach any dependency of arguments made on security, military affairs and captives from their attempt on the restoration of state, sources added.

“Restoring the government’s institutions to authority, turn in of arms and withdrawal from cities should take place before any political discussion,” sources said.