Delegations representing the legitimate Yemeni government and the Houthis are heading on September 6 for UN-sponsored consultations in Geneva.
A debate has started among Yemenis on whether the General People’s Congress (GPC) will fail to participate as an independent component in these talks.
Unlike other parties, UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths remains optimistic regarding the outcome of the talks.
Yemen's representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ali Mujawar stressed that his country’s government is open to participation in the consultations despite weak prospects of success, according to SPA.
Houthi spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Salam, for his part, described the consultations as "an update of ideas instead of negotiations to figure out serious solutions," according to an interview with the group's al-Masirah TV channel.
The Yemeni political analyst, Najib Gulab, said that Abdel-Salam's comments on the Geneva meeting give a clear message that Houthis “are undermining a UN solution" to Yemen's crisis.
“Yemeni parties and the United Nations have accumulated experience now, and the Iranian-derived Houthi manipulations are now exposed to these parties," Gulab stressed.
The UN has officially invited the Yemeni government and Iranian-backed Houthi insurgents to hold talks.
“I can confirm that the Special Envoy’s office has sent invitations to both, the Yemeni government and Ansar Allah (the Houthi group),” Alessandra Filucci announced in a press conference at the UN headquarters in Geneva on Friday.
“We received yesterday (Thursday) an invitation to participate in peace consultations,” Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani told Asharq Al-Awsat.
“The Special Envoy’s invitation suggests the participation of six key negotiators from the legitimate government as well as experts and secretaries. Members of the Yemeni delegation will be announced in the coming days,” Yamani added.
“The exclusion of GPC from the Geneva consultations contradicts with what the envoy has expressed in a press conference about the importance of its participation,” tweeted Yemen’s former FM Dr. Abu Bakr al-Qirbi, who is also a prominent GPC member.
“Therefore, Griffiths should explain the reason for the exclusion that will not prevent the GPC from declaring its vision of the political solution and its response to the exclusion policy and domination of power and interests.”
“GPC has never been an independent component of any consultations in the past and would not be an independent component in any future consultations," Qirbi said, adding that it was in the past part of two components: one in the government and another in the coup.
