Sources told Al-Jazeera that the United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, arrived in the capital (Sanaa), which is under the control of the Houthi group, on the first visit in about a year and two months.
Griffiths is scheduled to hold several meetings with Houthi officials, to discuss ways to resume ceasefire negotiations and alleviate the tragedy of the humanitarian situation in Yemen, according to local media.
Griffiths had met last March with Houthi leaders in Sanaa, as part of UN efforts to reduce the military escalation, and to hear the parties ’positions regarding preparations for a new round of consultations.
Griffiths’
A negative role for Iran
The Minister of Foreign Affairs in the legitimate Yemeni government, Ahmed Awad bin Mubarak, said that “Iran has played a negative role in Yemen over the past years by employing the Houthi militias to implement its agenda to destabilize the security and stability of the country and the Arab region.”
This came during bin Mubarak’s meeting with the US special envoy to Iran, Robert Malley, through visual communication technology, according to what was reported by the official news agency “Saba”.
Bin Mubarak pointed out that the reason for the prolongation of the war in Yemen is the continued Iranian military support for “coup militias, through which they are working to destroy Yemen and exacerbate the humanitarian catastrophe that the Yemeni people are suffering from.”
He explained that the initiatives put forward to bring peace to Yemen and the efforts of the international community, including the United States of America, to end this war “have all been destroyed on the rock of intransigence and arrogance of the coup militias, which do not take any consideration for the interest of Yemen and the Yemeni people.”
For years, the United Nations has been making repeated diplomatic efforts to reach a political solution to the Yemeni crisis, but it has not succeeded in achieving any tangible progress on the ground.
For nearly seven years, Yemen has been witnessing an ongoing war between the pro-government forces backed by an Arab military coalition led by the Saudi neighbor, and the Iran-backed Houthis who have controlled provinces, including the capital, Sanaa, since September 2014.