UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths shakes hands with Yemeni delegates during the first peace talks held in December 2018 in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: Stina St Jernkvist/AFP/Getty Images.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) participated in the Saudi-led war against Ansarallah and the Yemeni people but has been excluded from ongoing peace talks seeking to end the conflict.
The UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed its support for ongoing peace talks between Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Ansarallah resistance movement on September 18, despite the UAE’s exclusion from the negotiations, which seek to end the eight-year war that has killed hundreds of thousands.
In a statement, the UAE Foreign Ministry praised “the talks taking place in the capital, Riyadh, with a Houthi [Ansarallah] delegation to reach a permanent ceasefire and find a political solution to the Yemeni crisis in a way that enhances peace and stability in Yemen and the region.”
The Ministry stressed “the importance of supporting all regional and international efforts made to find a sustainable political solution in Yemen, in a way that achieves the aspirations of its people for security, development, and stability,” welcoming the efforts made by Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman to bring peace to Yemen.
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On September 14, an Ansarallah delegation traveled to Saudi Arabia to resume Omani-mediated talks.
Three days later, Ansarallah officials confirmed that “the peace talks being held with Saudi Arabia are the last rounds to be held in Riyadh,” stressing that they are “proceeding in a positive atmosphere.”
According to a September 18 report by Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar, Omani-mediated negotiations to end the war in Yemen have been taking place directly between Riyadh and the Ansarallah-led Sanaa government, without the participation of the UAE and Yemeni parties loyal to the Saudi-led coalition that has fought Ansarallah since 2015.
Citing informed sources, it states that the Saudi-appointed Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) and Saudi and UAE-backed forces in Yemen “appear to have no role in the negotiations.”
The report claims that Saudi Arabia is ignoring the secessionist aspirations of the UAE-backed Southern Transitional Council (STC) government and has rejected its demands to be included in the negotiations.
These negotiations are almost at a “final” stage, the sources go on to reveal, adding that the role of coalition-backed groups, namely the Saudi-appointed PLC and UAE-backed STC, “will not go beyond signing and attending the [upcoming] ceremony.”
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Khaled Salman, the editor of the Yemeni newspaper Al-Thawri, said via social media that “Saudi Arabia is seriously seeking a long-term peace with Sanaa on its own path, away from American pressure, to deprive Washington of any cards that may be used against it in the future.”
He added that there is an “overwhelming” Saudi desire to withdraw from “the American mantle.”
Since September 2014, Ansarallah has controlled most of the populated areas of Yemen, including the capital, Sanaa. In March 2015, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia launched military operations and a blockade in support of the Yemeni army to reclaim those areas from the group’s control.
The violence largely ended following a truce between both sides last year. However, the war killed some 377,000 people and caused an ongoing humanitarian crisis, leaving 80% of the Yemeni people in need of humanitarian aid, according to the United Nations.
