Yemen agreement and Riyadh’s double standards

By Ramin Hossein Abadian

TEHRAN - The Yemen peace talks began with the attendance UN envoy Martin Griffiths on Dec. 13, 2018 in Stockholm and led to an agreement between the two sides, the Sana'a delegation and the Saudi-backed Hadi’s outgoing government representatives.

The agreement came about as Saudi Arabia stepped up its aggressive attacks in various parts of Yemen so that the current peace talks in Stockholm. The Saudis apparently wanted the talks to fail. However, the seriousness of the Sana'a delegation made it impossible for the other party to scuttle the talks and a bilateral agreement was the result.

In the course of the talks that began on Thursday last week, the Hadi aligned delegation often raised irrational, impossible conditions, but to no avail.

The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a ceasefire in the strategic port city of Hudayda, Al Salif and Ras Issa. They are the main entry points for food and aid shipments to Yemen. The parties must abstain from dispatching any military reinforcements to the city and port of Hudaydah.  The accord also calls for the creation of a joint committee, supervised by the UN, to oversee redeployment and de-mining, which will occur in three ports. The committee chair will report weekly to the UN Security Council.

The agreement places the Red Sea port city under the control of local forces recognized by the Yemeni government. Meanwhile, the UN will also play a “leading role” in supporting management and inspections at the ports.

The document also said that all revenues gathered from the port would be transferred to Yemen's central bank in Hudaydah which would then start paying the salaries of civil servants.

The security of Hodeidah city and the ports of Hudaydah, Salih and Ras Issa are the responsibility of the security forces, in accordance with Yemeni law. The legal tracks of the Authority must be respected and any obstacles or impediments to the functioning of local institutions, including Houthi supervisors, should be eliminated.

The agreements over the province of al-Hudaydah and its harbors seem to be the most important achievement of the Stockholm peace talks.  It was the alertness of the Sana'a delegation that paved the way for the agreement on al-Hudaydah, which included the withdrawal of foreign forces from the province. Responsibility for the security of al-Hudaydah and the ports of al-Hudaydah, Saleef and Ras Isa is the job of the security forces of Yemen according to Yemeni law, which means that no foreign troops, no external forces, can be deployed in al-Hudaydah. And this means that no external force can be deployed in al-Hudaydah. Therefore, it may be said that with this clause in the agreement, the Saudi-UAE dream of occupying al-Hudaydah has been lost.

The head of the Houthi delegation, Mohammad Abdul Salam,  said: “We made great concessions for the sake of the Yemeni people because Hudaydah is the last remaining corridor to save the country from famine”. “We proposed that civilian aircraft go to Jordan and Egypt before heading to Sanaa airport,” he added. “We called for UN surveillance on imports, but the opposition was opposed. But the agreement was positive and we hope that the exchange of prisoners will be done in full and on the basis of an agreed upon mechanism.”

Despite the agreement of the Yemeni parties in the Stockholm talks in Sweden and the official support of the United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Gutierrez of this agreement, Saudi Arabia has adopted a double standard policy with regard to what has happened in Sweden. “We hope that the Houthis accept a comprehensive political solution, in accordance with relevant UN resolutions, that serves the interests of Yemen and its people rather than working on behalf of the Iranian regime's interests,” the Saudi ambassador to the U.S., Khalid bin Salman, said.

These hostile statements by the Saudi ambassador indicate that Riyadh is still not committed to peace in Yemen and it is unlikely that, in light of the current agreement, the Saudis would cease its military aggression against the defenseless and innocent people of Yemen.

After the Yemeni side announced at the end of  the talks  the ceasefire in al-Hudayda, coalition bombers fled the city and targeted the al-Adha area. It’s clear that the Saudi aggression against the Yemeni people is still on their agenda even after the accords in Stockholm. 

It’s important to mention two key points: first, the United Nations is committed its responsibility to protect the agreement. This marks less of a passive role for the UN. Secondly, after the talks the Saudi- backed Hadi’s outgoing government and its allies are in limbo.  In any case, the failure of this agreement, if it should occur, cannot be condemned as a failure by the Sanaa government because the Yemenis have shown that they are struggling for peace.

The last breath of Al-Saud in Yemen

By Mohammad Ghaderi 

Today, many global media spoke of Saudi defeat in Yemen. This issue comes as Saudi Arabia continues to kill the Yemeni people. The killing of the Yemeni people is not only not condemned by the United States and its European allies (especially Britain and France), but we are witnessing the continuation of this trend.

 Undoubtedly, one of the main losers of the Yemeni war was the United Nations. At present, the crimes of Saudi and Emirati authorities in Yemen are rising day by day. Despite the brutal killing of tens of thousands of Yemeni people by Riyadh, the United Nations still refuses to condemn the Saudis.

 It even refuses to introduce these crimes as a war crime (which deserve punishment). The world public opinion, and especially people of the region, are angry about the continuation of this war, strongly against the reverse role played by the United Nations in the Yemeni war, and the direct support of the permanent members of the Security Council (U.S., Britain and France). Since the start of the Yemeni war, people have been tens of thousands have been killed or injured.

 According to UN data in Yemen, about 8.4 million people are at risk of hunger, and there have been many victims of cholera in the country. But Saudi Arabia and its allies continue their bloodshed, and bombard the country's defenseless people. The main question, however, is that despite knowing the terrible conditions of the Yemeni people, why does the UN avoid confronting Saudi Arabia's crimes?!

Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, as the two countries that invaded the Yemeni people, have a bad time! Riyadh and Abu Dhabi have both failed in the Yemeni war and in the future they will also become big detainees.

 Analysts at international affairs acknowledge that the Al Saud family and its entourage have no chance of winning Yemen, and they must formally declare their defeat in this war soon and officially.

The UK-based newspaper, The Times, had published an article written by Michael Burleigh arguing that the Saudi controversial Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has only few days left in power.

Burleigh started his article saying: “Hopes that the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman would be a reformer who could heal the region have come to nothing.”

In the article, the writer went to highlight how western media had widely-reported the prince’s world tour last March drawing a picture of him as the Saudi strongman who is working for political and economic reforms.

 However, several doubts have been raised as a result of recent decisions taken by his father, King Salman. Meanwhile, the Crown Prince’s war on Yemen and the huge amount of money it is draining, in addition to the cold war he launched against Qatar, show clear signs of failure. The article created massive reactions in the Arab world. Many Saudis rushed into defending their 32-year-old Crown Prince.

The failure of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen is when the United States supported the war for Riyadh and Abu Dhabi. On the other hand, some European countries, such as Britain, Germany and France, were silenced by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates for killing the Yemeni people, and even supported Saudi Arabia by sending weapons.

 The United Nations, too, with its silence against the brutal killings of the Yemeni people, once again revealed its lack of credibility to the world's public opinion. It has been three years now that the defenseless people of Yemen are living under the aggression of al Saud and its allies.

 These three years of Saudi aggression led to Riyadh's heavy defeat, the death of a large number of aggressive forces and, most importantly, the survival of the Yemeni revolution. Sanaa and Aden and Ma'rib have become the symbols of the defeat of Al Saud in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia has even lost the power to regulate its relations with its allies in Yemen. The controversy that has formed between Riyadh and the United Arab Emirates in Yemen can be analyzed in the same vein. These conflicts are the result of the erosion of the Yemeni war and the joint defeat of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.