US top diplomat Kerry heads to Saudi on Yemen peace push

Riyadh / AFP

Top US diplomat John Kerry arrives in Saudi Arabia to push for peace in Yemen after UN-brokered talks collapsed despite world concern over mounting civilian casualties.
Over two days, Kerry is to meet Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir and other Gulf ministers.
He will also meet UN Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed and Britain’s Under Secretary of State for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood.
The kingdom leads an Arab coalition that began air raids in March last year and later sent in ground forces to support Yemen’s internationally recognised government after Houthi Shiite rebels and their allies overran much of the country.
Peter Salisbury, associate fellow at London’s Chatham House think tank, said there is “mounting pressure” from certain groups within the US government to see the war ended as soon as possible. “However, the Americans are limited in their ability to produce a meaningful political settlement.”
He said the current international approach, relying on United Nations Security Council Resolution 2216, essentially demands surrender by the rebels who control the capital Sanaa.
“Demanding that they surrender unconditionally simply isn’t going to work and my expectation is that, in a best case scenario, we will see many more months of war,” Salisbury said.
He added that neither the rebels nor the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi is willing to make the necessary concessions for a peace deal.
Seventeen months after the coalition intervened, anti-rebel forces have regained territory but the Houthis still control most of the interior highlands and Red Sea coast. In the southwest, government forces are battling to break a rebel siege of Taez, Yemen’s third city. Riyadh says the Houthis are backed by its regional rival Iran.
Coalition-supported pro-government forces are also fighting Al-Qaeda extremists who have exploited Yemen’s power vacuum to expand their presence in the south and southeast.
For civilians in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country even before the war escalated early last year, the humanitarian situation “continues to deteriorate”, the UN says.
More than 6,600 people, roughly half of them civilians, have been killed, while millions lack food, clean water and adequate healthcare. US officials have repeatedly urged their major Middle East ally to avoid harming non-combatants. A diplomatic source in Riyadh said it is “becoming increasingly clear” that elements of the US administration are alarmed by the civilian death toll.
As well as providing precision-guided bombs, American forces have assisted the coalition with aerial refuelling and intelligence, although they have slashed the number of advisers directly supporting the coalition.
Yemeni diplomatic sources said the US wants a deal on Yemen before the end of the year and will insist on the resumption of peace talks.
After making no headway, Ould Cheikh Ahmed on August 6 suspended the talks in Kuwait for one month, which triggered an escalation in fighting. Negotiations ended after the Huthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, appointed a council to govern Yemen.
The move directly challenged Hadi’s government, which works from Riyadh and Yemen’s second city Aden.
The diplomatic source in Riyadh said he expected a push in Jeddah for new peace talks. “I’m pretty sure that’s what the Saudis want as well,” the source said.
The problem is that “there’s no clear mechanism” for a way forward, he added. Salisbury said the talks should be broadened beyond the rebels and government to include groups in the south who want its pre-1990 independence restored.
After making no headway, Ould Cheikh Ahmed on August 6 suspended the talks in Kuwait for one month, which triggered an escalation in fighting. Negotiations ended after the Huthis and forces loyal to their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, appointed a council to govern Yemen.
The move directly challenged Hadi’s government, which works from Riyadh and Yemen’s second city Aden.