The Yemeni dialogue sessions kicked off on Tuesday in the Swiss Olympic House Resort in the village of Macolin northeast Switzerland. The two Yemeni delegations arrived at the resort on Monday evening, while the Swiss authorities denied offering the Yemeni press delegation coming from Sana’a visas to enter, and they were also not allowed to board on the Omani plane that transported the Yemeni delegation from Muscat to Zurich in Switzerland because they did not obtain visas to enter the hosting country.
According to information reported to "al-Ahed" website from inside the conference room, as soon as the Sana’a delegation arrived, and after a short pause, the two delegations met the UN Secretary General Special Envoy Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmad in which the preparations for the opening session were discussed, in addition to the way of managing the ceasefire issue. Ould Sheikh suggested calling for a ceasefire as the other parties would welcome it. Here, the Yemeni delegation coming from Sana’a set a condition that the truce should not be limited to a time-frame, which means that this phase would not only be a truce, but an initial end of war. Drafts and the national delegations’ conservatism were discussed as well.
The information reported said that the Yemeni delegation heading from Sana’a showed many reservations on the draft that was delivered to the Special Envoy of UN Secretary General, and that the delegation was discontent because Ould Sheikh Ahmad did not understand the notes that were agreed upon with the Sana’a delegation in Muscat.
The remarks made by the Sana’a delegation before starting the steps to build trust include the following:
1- Ceasefire and lifting of the siege before any other step
2- Forming a new government and establishing a committee to observe the steps agreed upon
3- Not linking any political dialogue with steps or battlefield conditions, and refusing the demand of withdrawing from some region as a condition for holding dialogue
4- Excluding the words "ISIS" and al-Qaeda, and fighting them, because the other parties want those groups to be tools to target the Yemeni society, army forces, and Ansarullah
5- It was mentioned in the first item of the draft ’the release of detainees’, and the "Riyadh delegation" was insisting on releasing the Minister of Defense in Mansour Hadi’s government, General Mahmoud Ahmad Salem Subaihi, and the Head of Political Security in Aden General Faisal Raheb, and Nasser Mansour, the brother of Hadi who has relations and power within al-Qaeda; the Sana’a delegation commented on this point by saying that the steps to build trust start with the ceasefire and lifting the siege, then we would work on an inclusive agreement
The information revealed that four sessions had been held, in which the fourth lasted until the night, and the opening session was positive in general. Moreover, the second session discussed the issue of a ceasefire, and the third discussed the humanitarian situation in which it was agreed that a joint committee be formed which includes both sides, with the participation of the United Nations, in order to let aids into the country, lift the siege, and deliver aids to all regions. However, the session did not mention the issue of the detainees.
According to "al-Ahed" sources, there is an international will to apply a ceasefire in Yemen, especially since the United States views that the Saudis are stuck in the Yemeni swamp. This moved (the US) to send a letter to Iranian officials with the UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Sheikh during his last visit to Tehran, which said that the United States wants a ceasefire in Yemen, according to Western sources in Switzerland.
