New UN Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg appeals for broader negotiations to end Civil War

The pro-independence Southern Transitional Council (STC) and other factions have been encouraged to participate in talks to end Yemen's seven-year civil war by the UN's new special envoy, Hans Grundberg. The United Nations must accept that outdated Security Council resolutions are hampering its work, according to Mohammed al-Ghaithi, the chairman of the STC's external relations department, who spoke to The Guardian.

Based on a resolution passed in 2015, Grundberg's current mandate focusses on the Yemen government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and the leadership of the northern-based Houthi movement. Grundberg made a point to meet not only the Saudi-backed Hadi government's prime minister but also STC chairman Aidarous al-Zubaidi.

The STC was meant to join a power-sharing administration in the south

A long-term solution must take into account the needs of a wide range of Yemeni social groups. The STC was meant to join a power-sharing administration in the south, unite security forces, and form a joint body to negotiate with the Houthis, according to an agreement with Mansour Hadi inked under Saudi supervision in 2019. Rivalries have halted most of this, allowing the Houthis to move closer to strategically important towns in the north, such as Marib, which has a population of three million. 

According to The Guardian, the STC warned that the Houthis, who are backed by Iran, were making military gains in areas controlled by Hadi forces in the south, putting the approaches into Marib, the last strategically vital town not under Houthi control in the north, in jeopardy. For more than a year, the city and region have been subjected to a violent Houthi onslaught. Marib is around 75 miles east of Sana'a, Yemen's capital.

If the Houthis succeed, they will pose a threat to American oil interests

Thousands of people have died on both sides, with the Iranian-backed Houthi advance being halted by Saudi airpower and internal opposition, according to The Guardian. The stakes are enormous for the Saudis, according to Al-Ghaithi. If the Houthis succeed, they will pose a threat to American oil interests, Saudi Arabia and the entire Gulf region. The Iranians who support the Houthis are not going to stop at Sana'a. They want to travel all the way to Mecca and believe that the only way to get there is through Aden.

Image: AP