UAE Press: Saudi Arabia Wants Guns To Fall Silent In Yemen

ABU DHABI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 24th Mar, 2021) Saudi Arabia, with its latest peace offering, is seeking to establish peace in Yemen, pointed out a UAE English daily. The kingdom has done it before too, from the Gulf initiative to the many other consultation efforts aimed at ending the war and reaching a settlement, said Gulf news in its editorial on Wednesday.

The latest initiative proposes reopening Sana’a’s airport, and "depositing taxes and custom revenues for ships carrying oil derivatives to the port of Hodeidah in the joint account of the Central Bank of Yemen in Hodeidah,"the newspaper noted.

The Yemeni government has welcomed the move, as have the UAE and the United States. The UN has also given its backing to the Saudi announcement. Indeed, Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy to Yemen, was earlier seeking to restart talks with a formula similar to the Saudi proposal, the editorial said.

It must be remembered that Yemen’s collapse began in 2014, when Al Houthis took control of the capital Sana’a and much of country’s north, forcing the internationally-recognised government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to flee to the south, before going into exile in Saudi Arabia. The Saudi-led coalition entered the war months later, only to try to restore Hadi to power and prevent Iranian expansionism in the country, the daily pointed out.

After the US reversed its designation of Al Houthis as a terrorist organisation in February this year, the militia increased its attacks on the kingdom, indicating it had been emboldened by Washington’s decision. In fact, in early March, the US envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, urged Al Houthis to accept his own ceasefire proposal. Despite that, the militia is aggressively continuing with its effort to take the government stronghold of Marib, the newspaper explained.

Al Houthis need to come out of this militaristic mindset if Yemen is to attain any semblance of stability. There is no military solution in Yemen; the country’s fundamental problem is a political one and it requires a political solution. For any solution to take hold, the guns need to fall silent first, the daily suggested.

True to form, Al Houthis have so far not made any encouraging statement about the latest Saudi offer. That’s a pity, as the Saudi announcement is a golden opportunity for the militia, which can end the suffering of the Yemeni people and uphold the interests of Yemen in the face of Iranian expansionist goals. The initiative will take effect as soon as the militia agrees to it. The ball is in Al Houthis’ court, concluded the Gulf News editorial.