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UN envoy to Yemen holds talks in UAE

April 10, 2018 at 11:41 am

Martin Griffiths has headed to the United Arab Emirates for talks on Yemen with Abu Dhabi’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan today, Khaleej Times reported.

After congratulating Griffiths on taking on the responsibility to resolve the Yemen civil war, Al Nahyan emphasised the UAE’s unwavering stance to support sovereignty and unity in Yemen. Anwar Bin Mohammed Gargash, minister of state for foreign affairs, and Salem Bin Khalifa Al Ghafli, UAE ambassador to Yemen, also attended the meeting.

The visit comes after Griffiths held talks with the Houthis and the General People’s Congress Party (GPC) in Oman.

The UAE entered the Yemen conflict in 2015 as part of the Saudi-led coalition to assist the internationally back government with threats posed by the Iranian-backed Houthi group which currently controls the capital Sana’a. But much of UAE’s focus has remained the oil-filled southern Yemen, as it went on to support Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council (STC) which calls for secession from northern Yemen. The move comes contrary to the UAE’s mandate under the terms of the coalition and undermines the legitimacy of President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi.

Last week, Yemen’s Interior Minister Ahmed Al-Maseeri accused the UAE of banning Hadi from returning to Aden. Early this year, Yemen’s Ministry of Tourism called on the UAE to stop destroying the island of Socotra. An official complaint was sent to the United Nation’s Security Council to accelerate a resolution to prevent the UAE from spoiling the island’s natural resources.

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Last year, Hadi called the UAE an “occupier” not a “liberator”.

The Yemen civil war continues without any viable peace process in sight. Three years on, ballistic missiles are being executed into Saudi Arabia, while the coalition’s air strikes pound densely populated areas and civilians are caught in the middle, enduring cholera, bird flu and starvation. The UN has described the situation in the country as “catastrophic” adding that it “is the world’s worst humanitarian crisis”.