Yemen… the US envoy in Riyadh and Griffiths to the Security Council: The Yemeni parties are unable to overcome their differences

In turn, the International Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said that “there are different visions, and the Yemeni parties are unable to overcome their differences,” but he stressed that dialogue between the conflict parties is the only way out of the crisis.

These statements come with the imminent end of Griffith’s mission as the UN special envoy to Yemen, who has served in this position since 2018, and led mediation to end the conflict in the country since 2014.

“I regret to inform you that the parties have not been willing or able to overcome their differences,” Griffiths said. He added that all the peace opportunities presented to them “have fallen on deaf ears.”

Griffiths added that “the lack of trust is rooted and there is a great difference about the shape of Yemen’s future, but the only way out of this crisis is for the leaders in the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council to commit to resolving their differences through dialogue and political negotiations, as the two parties did in the Riyadh Agreement.”

The Special International Envoy to Yemen criticized the continued closure of Sana’a International Airport and the restrictions imposed on the entry of fuel through the port of Hodeidah.

Griffiths stressed that putting an end to the Yemeni conflict requires a confident leadership that is ready to make concessions, as he put it.

In his speech during a Security Council session on Yemen, Griffiths also thanked countries he said had provided great support to diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Yemen.

He said that the United States, Saudi Arabia and Oman played a pivotal role in the latest round of the United Nations to resolve the Yemeni crisis.

The past few days witnessed diplomatic moves for the Sultanate of Oman, where a high-level delegation met on June 5, the leader of the Houthis, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

Yemen has been witnessing a war for nearly 7 years, and an Arab coalition led by the neighboring Saudi Arabia has been carrying out military operations in Yemen in support of government forces, in the face of the Iranian-backed Houthis, who have controlled governorates, including the capital, Sanaa, since 2014.