Ramadan is a month long period of fasting during which Muslims commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad. Ban Ki-moon made the plea as he opened the Geneva Yemen peace talks on Monday. The talks opened without the presence of the Houthi rebel delegation. Its arrival has been delayed twice.
The conference opening already was delayed one day because a UN plane that was to pick up the Houthi rebel delegates in Sanaa, the capital of Yemen, ended up leaving with no one aboard. First reports were conflicting with some attributing it simply to logistic problems.
The problems turned out to be that the Houthi delegation consisted of far more representatives than the UN wanted to go. The UN wanted each delegation to consist of seven principals and three advisers for each team. The Houthis wanted a wide range of opposition groups represented, including former president Saleh’s supporters, and other figures opposed to the Hadi government. They wanted wide-ranging talks by all the stakeholders involved, particularly with Saudi Arabia, who after all are running the bombing campaign. The present setup, they claim, had just two factions, the representatives of the “legitimate” Hadi government and the Houthi rebels, representatives of the “coup.” The Houthis do not recognize the Hadi government as legitimate since among other things, Hadi resigned after he failed to negotiate through the UN a government acceptable to the them. After Hadi escaped house arrest in Sanaa and fled to Aden in the south, he renounced his resignation and tried to set up government again. He was driven out and fled to Ryadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.His government in exile is still located in Ryadh.
Saudi Arabia has championed the Hadi government. In large part, Hadi’s government is a creation of the Saudis and the Gulf Cooperation Council with the support of the U.S. Hadi was vice-president under former president Saleh. Saleh relinquished power in a GCC-brokered deal that gave him and his cronies immunity for crimes committed during the Arab Spring demonstrations in Yemen. Hadi took over power and later was elected with no one running against him.
The UN is no neutral party in the peace talks. The UN has passed resolutions that impose sanctions on Saleh, his son, and two top Houthi leaders. They also imposed a ban on provision of weapons to the Houthis, but not other parties to the conflict. Finally, they passed a resolution demanding that Houthis lay down their arms and relinquish territory that they have captured. Representatives of the Hadi government and the GCC as well insist that these peace talks are simply intended to negotiate ways in which the UN resolutions can be implemented. If this is the case then these are not peace talks but surrender talks.
Even the second attempt to have the Houthis travel to Geneva had its problems. The plane carrying the rebel delegates flew to Djibouti and then was stuck Sunday in Djibouti for almost 24 hours. This is why the Houthi delegation did not attend the Monday opening. Ban Ki-moon claimed again that the delay was due to “logistical reasons.” Apparently the problem was that Egypt and perhaps others would not allow the plane to traverse their air space. It seems that possibly the Saudis as well did not want the Houthis to even attend the conference. Only the intervention of the U.S. and diplomatic pressure through Oman eventually allowed the plane to continue on its journey. Oman has played a positive role as a mediator throughout the conflict, having earlier arranged for talks between the Houthis and the U.S. Although a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, it has not joined in military operations against the Houthis. Oman shares a border with Yemen and no doubt believes that the safest strategy is to stay out of the conflict, in terms of its own security.
The UN wants to hold the talks with no preconditions and would like to see them end with at least a pause in the fighting so that humanitarian aid could be delivered and further talks could take place during the truce. This is probably the most that can be expected from the gathering but that would at least be a step forward. Ban, however, also called for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.
The talks are scheduled to run for two or three days. The two sides at first will not negotiate face to face. Neither side recognizes the legitimacy of the other. Whether the two can agree on even a temporary cease fire remains to be seen but at least the UN attempt is a positive step. There appears to be a split between countries such as Saudi Arabia and other members of the GCC except Oman, and the US, and no doubt many other western powers. These countries would like to stop the carnage and are perhaps worried by international negative reaction to civilian casualties, widespread destruction, and the humanitarian crisis caused by the bombing. The bombing so far has failed to achieve any significant victories against the rebels while increasing the power of Al Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula(AQAP) which is now allied with many Sunni tribes. Many western countries may be thinking that a military strategy is not the answer. Perhaps that is wishful thinking. The US, at least, is still carrying out a vigorous drone campaign against AQAP recently killing their leader. This merely creates upward mobility within AQAP. The US has also been providing logistical and intelligence support to the Saudi-led bombing campaign.
