Yemen peace talks tempered with realism

World
Europe

01:02

A new round of peace talks between warring parties in Yemen began in Sweden on Thursday, even though observers remain cautious of any major breakthrough.

“This isn't a peace negotiation and the two parties are not meeting face to face,” Gerald Feierstein, former US ambassador to Yemen, said on CGTN's The Point (@thepointwithlx). “The delegations are not at senior enough level to make agreements.”

Agreements between Houthi rebels and Saudi-backed Yemeni officials on prisoner swaps as well as opening Sana'a airport and the port city of Hodeidah are the “modest goals” of the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, Feierstein noted, adding that the UN-sponsored talks could be a stepping stone for “real negotiations” to end the conflict.

Just hours before talks began, the two sides traded threats. Houthi rebels vowed to shut down Sana'a airport, which they control, while Yemeni officials demanded a Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah.

01:15

Given the timing, when Saudis and its allies are under “pressure” over the killing of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, Ali Rizk, a political analyst, said that Riyadh is likely to make some “real concessions.”

“We do have quite a possibility to achieve something real, which was not achieved in the previous round… in Kuwait [in 2016],” Rizk said.

Feierstein concluded that it's not a Saudi issue, but a Yemeni issue. “Decisions about how to end the conflict eventually will depend on the willingness of Yemeni parties to reach an agreement,” he added.

Rizk argued that despite the fact that it is a Yemeni issue, the Saudis and Emiratis are the ones that launched an “illegitimate war.”

“In order to achieve peace, you have to put a stop to the foreign aggression which has been going on for over four years by the Saudis and Emiratis and some other allies,” he said, adding that the Saudi and American focus on their “Iranophobic policy” in the region “has no clear rationale” for whatever the outcome.

Since the conflict began four years ago, tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. Some 75 percent of Yemen's population is in dire need of humanitarian support, children in particular.

A recent statement issued by UNICEF said: “The toll of almost four years of recent fighting across Yemen is mind-boggling, with more than 2,700 children recruited to fight an adults' war. Over 6,700 children have been verified killed or severely injured. Nearly 1.5 million children have been displaced, many of them living a life that is a mere shadow of what childhood should be.”

(Cover photo: Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom (left) and UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths at a press conference as the Yemen peace talks are underway in Sweden, December 6, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at opinions@cgtn.com.)