The new envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said on Tuesday that he plans to launch a comprehensive political process that would start from where UN-brokered negotiations led by his Mauritanian predecessor Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmad had stopped.
Griffiths kicked off his mission to broker a UN peace deal in Yemen, from the Saudi capital, Riyadh, by meeting President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi and members of his legitimate government.
The British diplomat was appointed as the new UN envoy to Yemen in February, replacing Sheikh Ahmad, who failed to break the Yemeni political stalemate and end the conflict.
“A political process will require all sides to be flexible, make difficult compromises, and prioritize the national interest for the sake of the Yemeni people,” the envoy said.
During their meeting, Hadi was keen on reminding the UN envoy how the Houthi coup, last-minute sabotage of Yemen's then-imminent historical transformation in 2014, and ensuing horrendous attacks and blockades against Yemeni cities plunged the country in the humanitarian crisis that it is witnessing today.
"We will always continue to call for peace to affirm our principle attitude, out of our national and moral responsibility toward our nation,” Hadi said.
The Yemeni President also told Griffiths that previous peace talks held with Houthis showed that the rebels don't honor deals and commitments, but follow a foreign agenda.
According to sources from the Yemeni Foreign Ministry, several European ambassadors have landed in Sana’a to exert pressure on rebels for ensuring the success of the new UN envoy’s mission in Yemen.
