The Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen continues its efforts to secure a) a nationwide ceasefire; b) the opening of Sana’a airport; c) the regular flow of fuel and other commercial commodities into Yemen through the ports of Hudaydah with associated revenues from the entry of fuel contributing to civil servant salaries; and d) the resumption of a political process aimed at comprehensively ending the conflict in Yemen.

For the past two months, international and regional diplomatic momentum was revamped in support of the United Nations efforts to encourage the parties to the conflict in Yemen to come to an agreement about these elements.

Recently, Special Envoy Griffiths warned the Security Council that the continued offensive against Ma’rib is a source of grave concern about the prospects of peace. “I have condemned this many times since early last year when this offensive operation started, and I will repeat my call now: the attack on Ma’rib must stop.”

Mr. Griffiths stressed that there should be “no preconditions for resuming the political process” and emphasized that the parties have an obligation to engage seriously at all stages with the United Nations. Mr. Griffiths further reiterated that the process should be geared towards an agreement that is guided by the aspirations of the Yemeni people for a future of accountable governance, equal citizenship and economic justice.

He further said that “political arrangements should be based on the principles of inclusive partnership and continued dialogue among Yemen’s political and social components, including women and civil society”, and added that “security arrangements should provide for the Yemeni people’s safety and lead toward responsive security institutions that uphold the rule of law.”

In this issue, read:

1) Diplomacy picks up in support of the United Nations efforts to end the conflict in Yemen.

2) Reflections: Interview with Al Saeda TV

3) Six years later: a war-ravaged Yemen in numbers

4) Featured Reading: The United Nations Guidance on Effective Mediation

5) Fuel shortages continue to threaten humanitarian aid and basic services in Yemen

6) News Clippings

As the conflict in Yemen enters its seventh year, Yemenis continue to face a dire humanitarian situation, including the prospect of a large-scale famine. The Office of the Special Envoy for Yemen has continued its efforts to commit the parties to resume the political process and reach a mutually accepted end of the war guided by the aspirations of Yemenis for a future marked by peaceful political participation, accountable governance, equal citizenship and economic justice.

The United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths said that in order to provide a conducive environment for the revitalization of the political process, the parties should agree immediately to a nationwide ceasefire that halts all forms of fighting; to ensure the unhindered flow of fuel and other commodities into Yemen through Hudaydah ports with port revenues put toward civil servant salaries based on the 2014 payroll database; and opening up Sana’a airport to commercial international traffic.

“These measures should maximise humanitarian objectives, while providing appropriate security guarantees in line with this Council’s resolutions. They should not be exploited for political or military gain,” Mr. Griffiths said.

He also warned that this plan would not be sustainable if it is not tied to progress on the political track. “We know that without a political settlement, there will be no sustainable defeat of humanitarian problems,” he added.

Since February 2021, there has been a renewed international and diplomatic engagement on Yemen in support of the United Nations’ plan. Mr. Griffiths highlighted the importance of diplomacy and how governments can help the United Nations persuade and support the parties to make the necessary concessions.

“I talked to the US administration, I talk to the Iranians, I will talk to anybody who can help to end the conflict”, he said in a March interview to Al Saeeda TV, “We can advise these governments as to where they can best help and how they can best engage with the parties to get this thing moving”.

In February, Mr. Griffiths visited Iran for the first time since he took over his assignment as a Special Envoy of the Secretary-General and exchanged views with Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and other Iranian officials on how to make progress towards a nationwide ceasefire, urgent humanitarian measures and the resumption of the political process.

Also in February, the United States established for the first time a position of US Special Envoy for Yemen. Mr. Griffiths noted that this was a positive step towards strengthened international and diplomatic engagement.

A month later, in March, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia announced a series of steps to help end the fighting and restart the political process in Yemen, which was welcomed by the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres.

Mr. Guterres noted that all actors and stakeholders must do their utmost to facilitate an immediate agreement that brings Yemen back to a path towards peace, in line with the efforts of Mr. Griffiths. The Secretary-General also acknowledged the important role played by the Sultanate of Oman in these efforts.

“I am grateful to His Majesty, Sultan Haitham Bin Tariq Al Said, for his constructive and essential support to my Special Envoy”, he said.

The members of the United Nations Security Council recently called on the parties to come together and work with the UN Special Envoy to negotiate, without preconditions, a nationwide ceasefire and a Yemeni-led and owned, inclusive, political settlement, which includes the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women, as well as the participation of youth.

Mr. Griffiths recently highlighted the importance of the unity of the Security Council on Yemen.

“There are some differences of opinion, but there is unity on the central message which is this that there is only a political solution, there is no military solution to the war in Yemen and that that political solution will only come through an inclusive process for all people in Yemen and that Yemen should be free of foreign interference,” Mr. Griffiths said.

In his interview to Al Saeeda TV on February 14, the UN Special-Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths discussed issues of interest including the way forward to resume a political process aimed at comprehensively ending the conflict in Yemen, the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, and his role as a mediator.

Mr. Griffiths stressed that the UN-facilitated peace process is value-based and is bound by a vision of the future that is centered around the rights of the Yemeni people and driven by the aspirations that drove Yemenis into the streets ten years ago.

“It has been ten years since the Arab Spring raised hope throughout the region but also in Yemen.” Mr. Griffiths said and stressed that the aspirations expressed by Yemenis then are the aspirations that drive the work of the United Nations “not simply to end the war, but to build the peace that creates the unity and passion that has driven Yemen's history and that has seen so daily in the way in which Yemenis live and deal with each other.”

In line with these aspirations, Mr. Griffiths pointed out that “we see the necessity of an agreement which brings in an accountable government which restores the rights of the people of Yemen to work, to travel, to bring up their children, to have freedom according to the law, and to be able to do that with citizenship which is respected. We will not be party to any eventual political settlement which does not protect the rights of the people of Yemen.”

Mr. Griffiths further explained that while his main mission is about ending the conflict through a political settlement, issues with an immediate effect on the lives of Yemenis continue to be on his agenda.

“My current immediate today priority is to get the two parties to sit down together to agree on three simple things: the ceasefire, opening of the airport, opening the ports. If we can agree those three things that we have negotiated all through last year, we can agree that it gives the people of Yemen chance to breathe and it leads to the political process which should start immediately thereafter,” Mr. Griffiths said emphasizing the importance of international and regional diplomatic efforts to realize this agenda.

Special Envoy Griffiths also explained that this agenda has been influenced by the lessons learnt from the implementation of the Stockholm Agreement, the most important of which, he said, was that localized ceasefires are limited in what they can achieve.

“If you try to get a ceasefire in one place as is the case with Hudaydah, the forces will go to another front to fight there ,” Mr. Griffiths said, “We have been pushing for a nationwide ceasefire ever since that time when the Secretary-General did his call for a global ceasefire because of COVID.”

Mr. Griffiths reiterated the importance of the Stockholm Agreement and recalled the prospects of famine which had been exacerbated by the threat to the Hudaydah port, the main entry point for the majority of Yemen’s food and medicine.

“The Hudaydah agreement was a humanitarian agreement to protect the city of Hudaydah and the humanitarian pipeline and it has worked in that respect. It has not delivered on all its ambitions. By the way the numbers of civilians dying in Hudaydah, each death being unacceptable, has gone down by seven times since 2018 to 2020, largely speaking,” Mr. Griffiths said expressing disappointment that the parties have not managed to put their differences aside to pursue the full implementation of important parts of the Stockholm Agreement including the Taiz understanding and the prisoners’ exchange agreement.

In that regard, Mr. Griffiths also clarified his role as a mediator.

“I am a mediator, which means I have no military behind me, I cannot enforce solutions. I am here to help the two parties, the Government of Yemen and Ansar Allah, to come to agreement. My job is to continue facilitating and encouraging dialogue and find common ground to build agreements to give the parties the opportunity to do the right thing. And if they do not choose to do the right thing, then they are accountable for that,” Mr. Griffiths said, “It is an obligation for the parties to sit together; that is what is asked of them. They can agree or not, that is up to them based on their own ideas of their interests. But not to sit together, I am afraid, is not acceptable. And they need to do so.”

Mr. Griffiths also elaborated on the different dynamics in the parties: “I find that there are people in both of those parties who are keen for peace and for an end to this conflict. There are also people in both those parties who do not want to make the necessary concessions to come to an agreement. We call them spoilers and they exist in all conflicts and they exist in Yemen.”

The Special Envoy, however, said he understood the frustration of the Yemeni people and their criticism of the slowness of the process.

“It is right to be frustrated with the parties, whose job it is to agree to do these things, and with the United Nations whose job it is to help parties do it. I think frustration, and indeed anger, is entirely understandable,” Mr. Griffiths said, “I am not blind to the terrible suffering of the people of Yemen, to the appalling situation for years in Taiz, to the lines waiting in Sanaa for the oil that has not entered into that country. I am not blind to that, and that is what drives us to do our best to end this conflict as soon as possible.”

Read the full transcript of the interview here: https://osesgy.unmissions.org/transcript-interview-al-saeeda-tv-martin-griffiths-broadcast-8-february-2021

“The Charter of the United Nations identifies mediation as an important means for the peaceful settlement of disputes and conflicts, and it has proven to be an effective instrument to address both inter-State and intra-State conflicts. Mediation is a process whereby a third party assists two or more parties, with their consent, to prevent, manage or resolve a conflict by helping them to develop mutually acceptable agreements. The premise of mediation is that in the right environment, conflict parties can improve their relationships and move towards cooperation. Mediation outcomes can be limited in scope, dealing with a specific issue in order to contain or manage a conflict, or can tackle a broad range of issues in a comprehensive peace agreement.

Mediation is a voluntary endeavour in which the consent of the parties is critical for a viable process and a durable outcome. The role of the mediator is influenced by the nature of the relationship with the parties: mediators usually have significant room to make procedural proposals and to manage the process, whereas the scope for substantive proposals varies and can change over time.

Mediation is a specialized activity. Through a professional approach, mediators and their teams provide a buffer for conflict parties and instill confidence in the process and a belief that a peaceful resolution is achievable.

The United Nations Guidance for Effective Mediation was issued as an annex to the report of the Secretary-General on Strengthening the role of mediation in the peaceful settlement of disputes, conflict prevention and resolution (A/66/811, 25 June 2012).

The Guidance draws on the experience of the international community. Inputs from Member States, the United Nations system, regional, subregional and other international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), women’s groups, religious leaders, the academic community, as well as mediators and mediation specialists, informed its development.”

Read the full Guidance: https://peacemaker.un.org/guidance-effective-mediation

For more United Nations Resources on mediation, visit the United Nations Peacemaker website.