Many leaders and activists loyal to the legitimate government in Yemen condemned the proposal presented by UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths to Houthi militias on handing Hodeidah port to a third party, especially after legitimate government forces became close to liberating the city.
Griffiths left Sanaa on Saturday after spending three days with Houthi leaders to discuss details of his plan to neutralize Hodeidah port.
The UN envoy also discussed arrangements for the pro-Iran group’s arrival to Sweden for the upcoming round of talks in December.
According to UN sources, the Envoy will head next to Riyadh followed by Muscat, where he is scheduled to meet legitimacy leaders and other Yemeni and Houthi commanders to discuss talks in Sweden.
The UN Envoy’s proposal involves ending all military operations in Hodeidah and handing over the port’s administration to UN supervision.
The Envoy, along with Western circles, believe that proceeding with the clashes in Hodeidah will prolong human suffering, especially with other risks that may result from the disruption of work in the port and the interruption of food and humanitarian aid.
If Griffiths succeeds in concluding a partial agreement on Hodeidah and its port, observers believe this will give him a good incentive to seek progress in Sweden's consultations between the Iranian-backed group and the legitimate government.
Yemeni Minister of Local Administration Abdul-Raqib Fateh tweeted that the international law and all international agreements stipulate that the national territory must be subject to a legitimate president and a legitimate government.
The Minister described the United Nations, its Security Council, and its representatives as the guardians of laws that protect nations and their territorial integrity.
He added that anything aside from that is “an act outside the law, and Griffiths understands that,” criticizing the Envoy's proposal.
"For two years, the United Nations was unable to implement its proposal to take over the port of Hodeidah from the armed Houthi militias,” hinted Fateh to UN’s ill faith, adding that now that the national army is close to liberating the port, the United Nations wants to handle it as a third party.
In the same context, head of the information department of Yemeni Congregation for Reform party Ali al-Jaradi said that "a just and comprehensive peace based on international resolutions, national dialogue outcomes, and the Gulf initiative” is the only way to achieve stability.
"Any partial agreements in a limited geographical area are false and fragile," he said in a Facebook post, adding that the agreement Griffiths is trying to pass is part of the military tactics that the coup knows so well.
Author and political researcher of Yemen, Fares al-Bel, believes that "the legitimacy’s approval to isolate Hodeidah port is surrendering to Houthi conditions.”
Speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat, Bel said that the port agreement means the legitimacy will be stopped from restoring the state. This will create isolated areas which necessitate international intervention to end the dispute between two entities claiming the ownership, the researcher said.
"It is not logical to believe that Houthis will reach peace or negotiate it...because they don’t have it or know it,” said Bel.
"The militias have no political power, no negotiating values, and no temporary project; they are just militias that are paid to do the job, so negotiating with them is futile,” he went on to say, indicating that the real negotiations must be with Iran.
Yemeni political activist Ali al-Bakhiti said he wouldn't mind handing over the city and its harbor to a third party.
Bakhiti, who is a former Houthi commander, indicated that the third party that could manage the port doesn’t necessarily have to be a foreigner. The activist explained in a tweet that a competent Yemeni independent figure could have the chance to manage the port and the city.
Commander of the General People’s Congress and member of the general committee, Adel al-Shujaa, is questioning the entire international role, saying to Asharq Al-Awsat: "They want to maintain the militias’ power, which makes us question that the United Nations….is working for the benefit of this group.”
Asked whether the militias were serious about going to the talks announced in Sweden, Shujaa was confident that Houthis would only head to the consultations if they were provided with an Omani plane to transport experts from Iran and Hezbollah claiming they were injured members.
The party member denied any change in the UN's vision of involving the People’s Congress in the coming consultations, asserting that the party has not received any invitation in this regard.
