Local Editor
US Secretary of State John Kerry has announced a new initiative to restart Yemen peace talks, offering the Houthi Ansarullah movement participation in the country’s unity government in exchange for a transfer of their heavy weapons to a third party.
Kerry said on Thursday that the "fair and sensible approach" to end the 18-month conflict was agreed in talks with Gulf Arab states and the United Nations in Saudi Arabia.
"The bloodshed ... has gone on for too long," he said, speaking at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in the Saudi city of Jeddah. "It has to stop ... There is no military solution."
Kerry said that the restoration of stability to Yemen was vital in order to ease the suffering of the civilians and to prevent the armed groups such as al-Qaeda and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) group from taking further advantage of the power vacuum.
"It is essential for Yemen, for countries in the region and for the world community in general to agree on a plan to end the fighting and achieve a lasting peace," he said.
Kerry said UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed would immediately begin series of consultations with Yemen’s warring sides to push for the renewed peace talks.
"The final agreement ... would include in the first phase a swift formation of a new national unity government, the withdrawal of forces from [the capital] Sana’a and other areas and the transfer of all heavy weapons including ballistic missiles, from the Houthis and forces aligned to them to a third party," Kerry said.
A Saudi-led Arab military coalition started air strikes against the Houthis in support of the regime of fugitive President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi in March 2015.
About 10,000 people have been killed and over 16,000 injured since Riyadh launched the airstrikes. The Saudi aggression has also taken a heavy toll on Yemen’s facilities and infrastructure.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
