News - Yemen: Despite US efforts to revive the Yemeni truce and put it back on track, it seems that Sanaa's position is no longer as flexible as before, due to the violations by the United Nations - the sponsor of the truce- of its commitments.

Instead of moving to build confidence between the opposing parties, the discussions and demands were returned to the zero point, while the issue of seizing fuel ships was used as a card to confuse the scene and waste more time without implementing the terms of the truce.

The foregoing, according to Sana'a leaders, reflects an open evasion on the part of the other side, which refuses to take steps that enhance the peace process.

Observers considered that the release of eight ships seized by the Saudi-Emirati coalition, early last month, did not return the truce to the path of safety, and did not encourage Sanaa to deal flexibly with any new international or regional efforts.

In this context, the head of the Sanaa negotiating delegation, Muhammad Abdulsalam, reiterated that the correct implementation of the terms of the truce is to “stop the aggression, lift the siege, and pay the salaries of state employees.”

These demands are consistent with what Sana’a stresses that the last extension of the truce was, and still is “representing a last and unrepeatable opportunity,” bearing in mind that the other parties deliberately circumvented the contents of the last extension, and did not show any intention to implement confidence building steps.

Sources told Al-Akhbar that Sana’a’s position has become more hardened following “the aggression deliberately seizing fuel ships without justification, with the aim of draining time and causing a halt in the implementation of other provisions related to opening new travel destinations, facilitating the entry of fuel ships, and negotiating the mechanism for disbursing the salaries of state employees.

The recent statements issued by the US, France and Britain, welcoming the release of the ships represented the clear bias of these regimes to the Saudi-UAE aggression at the expense of the entitlements of the truce.

The sources pointed out that the acquittal of the countries of aggression from the crime of detaining ships by the US State Department, its envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, and US Ambassador Stephen Fagin, confirms “their partnership in this international crime."

Meanwhile, a source in the "Higher Economic Committee" in Sana'a told Al-Akhbar that "the US side's approval of the mechanism of obstructing the entry of ships was a scandalous matter. It revealed that the so-called technical office of the Economic Council in the pro-coalition government was behind the imposition of a mechanism and that “the mechanism that the other party tried to implement to impose new restrictions on the import of oil derivatives to the port of Hodeidah dates back to the middle of this year, and the company that the technical office in Aden tried to impose.” It is owned by the Saudi ambassador and his partners in the Aden government.”

These measures were rejected by the Syndicate of Oil Derivatives Traders and Importers in Sana’a, in a statement in which it considered that the attempt to compel importers to deal with exporting or examining companies was “unjustified”, in light of the existence of a UN inspection mechanism.

While five ships are still being held on the coast of Jizan, the Minister of Oil and Minerals in the Sanaa government, Ahmed Daris, warned against continuing to fight the Yemenis with fuel, calling for their speedy release, and not to be exposed to it in the future. He accused the aggression of deliberately missing opportunities to evade the implementation of the terms of the truce, in order to further increase the suffering of the people.

In light of these complications, American “diplomatic” efforts have returned to the fore, while the talk of the United States envoy to Yemen, who returned to launch his regional tour from the Emirates, at the end of last week, seemed different from reality, after the truce set back.
 
It should be noted that the US State Department said, via Twitter, that Linderking's new round "comes to urge the parties to intensify the United Nations-led negotiations in the next three weeks, and to take the necessary steps to extend and expand the truce, leading to increased tangible benefits for all Yemeni parties.

Source: Al-Akhbar Lebanese newspaper

translated by Almasirah English website