Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 488 - Yemen War Mosaic 488

Yemen Press Reader 488: 6. Dezember 2018: Ich habe gesehen – Welche Rolle Lügen über den Jemen spielen – Sudan im Jemenkrieg – Deutsche Waffenexporte nach Saudi-Arabien – Kinder und der Westen..

Bei diesem Beitrag handelt es sich um ein Blog aus der Freitag-Community.
Ihre Freitag-Redaktion

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

Eingebetteter Medieninhalt

... “ – Kämpfe in Hodeidah, Luftangriffe – Friedensgespräche: Delegationen reisen an, Beginn der Gespräche, geringe Erwartungen – und mehr

December 6, 2018: I have seen – Why Lies About the War on Yemen Matter – Sudan in the Yemen War – German arms exports to Saudi Arabia – Children and the “West” – Fighting at Hodeidah, air raids – Peake talks: Arrival of delegations, start of talks, low expectations – and more

Dieses Jemenkrieg-Mosaik besteht aus 2 Teilen / This Yemen War Mosaic is divided in two parts

Teil 2 / Part 2:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-488b-yemen-war-mosaic-488b/

Schwerpunkte / Key aspects

(Teil 2: Kursiv / Part 2: In Italics)

Klassifizierung / Classification

Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle

cp2 Allgemein / General

cp2a Allgemein: Saudische Blockade / General: Saudi blockade

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

cp8 Saudi-Arabien / Saudi Arabia

cp8a Jamal Khashoggi

cp9 USA

cp10 Großbritannien / Great Britain

cp11 Deutschland / Germany

cp12 Andere Länder / Other countries

cp12a Katar-Krise / Qatar crisis

cp13a Waffenhandel / Arms Trade

cp13b Mercenaries / Söldner

cp13c Wirtschaft / Economy

cp14 Terrorismus / Terrorism

cp15 Propaganda

cp16 Saudische Luftangriffe / Saudi air raids

cp17 Kriegsereignisse / Theater of War

cp18 Sonstiges / Other

Klassifizierung / Classification

***

**

*

(Kein Stern / No star)

? = Keine Einschatzung / No rating

A = Aktuell / Current news

B = Hintergrund / Background

C = Chronik / Chronicle

D = Details

E = Wirtschaft / Economy

H = Humanitäre Fragen / Humanitarian questions

K = Krieg / War

P = Politik / Politics

pH = Pro-Houthi

pS = Pro-Saudi

T = Terrorismus / Terrorism

Für wen das Thema ganz neu ist / Who is new to the subject

Einführende Artikel u. Überblicke für alle, die mit den Ereignissen im Jemen noch nicht vertraut sind, hier:

Yemen War: Introductory articles, overviews, for those who are still unfamiliar with the Yemen war here:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-einfuehrende-artikel-u-ueberblicke

Neue Artikel / New articles

(* B H K P)

The war in Yemen explained, as country heads towards peace talks

How did the war start?

How bad is the current situation?

The death of ex-president Saleh

Why Saudi Arabia started bombing

Why the US backed Saudi Arabia

Why it isn't making front pages

What was Yemen like before the war?

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/the-war-in-yemen-explained-as-key-peace-talks-in-sweden-loom

My comment: Somewhat biased. The role of Iran is badly exaggerated, the role of the West (US; UK) is badly downplayed.

cp1 Am wichtigsten / Most important

(** B H K)

I have seen

#Yemen's blue sky has become a source of fear because it brings death and destruction. "You have seen nothing in #Yemen". Thread. -I have seen destruction, death, fear, hunger, and bombardment. -I have seen my friend's dead bodies. -I have seen a dead malnourished child.

-I have seen body parts of children in a school bus. -I have seen the deterioration of living conditions. -I have seen hungry people eating tree leaves. -I have seen and heard hundreds of stories about what happened to families & how they left their homes with empty hands.

-I have seen displaced people with no house, no food, no money, no milk for their children, no jobs, no salaries, no access to clean water and their children are dying from hunger. -I have seen horrible things in my home #Yemen and I feel that they are heavy on my mind.

-I have seen a mother crying in a hospital for losing her only son. -I have seen the suffering of people in my country #Yemen for 3 years.. -I have seen a lot of things that need days to explain. The traumatic incidents I have faced are so horrific to be explained.

And I have seen children's smile and laughter despite the suffering and war. Their smile is the cutest thing I have ever seen in my life – by Ahmad Alghobary

https://twitter.com/AhmadAlgohbary/status/1070101730367483904

(** B P)

Why Lies About the War on Yemen Matter

Tony Badran takes another crack at justifying Trump’s subservience to Saudi Arabia. Inevitably, this means telling lots of lies about Iran and Yemen

Strategic clarity appears to have the same relationship to sound strategy that “moral clarity” has to morality. “Moral clarity” usually means whitewashing and excusing the crimes of the governments and people on one’s own “side” while criticizing only adversaries in the harshest terms. Strategic clarity involves letting hostility to one state overwhelm all other considerations and justify supporting any actor or policy, no matter how senseless and bad for U.S. interests it may be, simply because it expresses hostility towards the hated regime. Trump “sets a tone of strategic clarity” because he leads off with a false accusation against Iran to defend a relationship with a reckless client that has involved the U.S. in an indefensible war. The war doesn’t even have much to do with Iran, but the small connection that does exist is blown out of all proportion to distract from the fact that the Saudi relationship is now a huge liability. Take it as a given that these “clarity” phrases have the opposite meaning from what the words usually mean.

Faulting Iran for the war on Yemen is flagrantly dishonest, and it is also a good example of foreign policy malpractice. Letting the Saudis and Emiratis off the hook for creating the disaster in Yemen amounts to giving up any leverage the U.S. has with them, and blaming their regional rival is nothing less than swallowing their propaganda whole. That suits ideological Iran hawks just fine, but it puts the U.S. in a horrible position of being both accomplice and shill for despotic war criminals as they destroy and starve an entire country. That is what Trump has repeatedly chosen to be, but no one should pretend that this is anything other than a disgrace and a major foreign policy failure – by Daniel Larison

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/why-lies-about-the-war-on-yemen-matter/

(** B P)

Saudi Arabia’s Blood Pact With a Genocidal Strongman

The Saudis and UAE bribed Sudan's president to send Janjaweed fighters to be cannon fodder in Yemen. It's not working out.

Put simply, recent U.S. intelligence assessments confirm what al-Amin has reported: that the UAE/Saudi war in Yemen is beginning to unravel. Not only are the Emiratis and Saudis mired in a seemingly endless conflict, their 8,000-plus Sudanese mercenaries are beginning to turn on their Emirati and Saudi officers. This is the result of Saudi penny-pinching (large numbers of Sudanese soldiers are owed months of backpay) and the fact that UAE/Saudi commanders regularly and knowingly order the Sudanese units into virtual suicide missions against the Houthi rebels. According to the Middle East Eye, as of November of 2017, upwards of 500 Sudanese soldiers have died in the conflict.

“These guys are cannon fodder for the Saudis, and they know it,” Michael Horton, a Yemen expert and fellow at the Jamestown Foundation, says. The result has been a number of incidents in which Sudanese soldiers have murdered their UAE or Saudi commanders, what Horton described as “a nasty piece of business.”

But the UAE and Saudis weren’t the only ones to make a deal with the devil—so too did the United States. “There’s not a person at the CIA station in Khartoum who doesn’t know that Bashir and his inner circle are world class kleptocrats,” the former intelligence officer with whom I spoke said. “But you know, this is all about terrorism and Iran. So when the Saudis made a pact with Bashir, we looked the other way.” Yemen expert Michael Horton is even more outspoken: “It’s not a case of we should know better,” he says. “It’s that we know better and do nothing.”

Despite Sudan’s 2015 decision to buttress the intervention, the UAE/Saudi war effort has remained stalemated—and pressures have increased on Bashir to provide more help. In March of 2016, Bashir responded by ordering the deployment of 6,000 members of Sudan’s elite Rapid Support Forces (RSF), comprised primarily of Janjaweed fighters, to help in the fight.

While offloading the Janjaweed militia to Yemen short-circuited complaints about Bashir’s designs on his neighbors, the mounting Sudanese body count in Yemen and persistent complaints from Sudan’s military that the UAE and Saudis were scrimping on their pay led to widespread dissatisfaction among Khartoum’s elite. They worried that Bashir had sold himself, and their country, to a bunch of spoiled Gulf princes.

The curtain in this final act was raised that June, when Bashir’s intelligence services reported that Taha Osman al-Hussein, the director of the president’s office (and Bashir’s closest confidante), had been secretly taking payments from the Saudis for exercising influence on Bashir – by Mark Perry

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/saudi-arabias-blood-pact-with-a-genocidal-strongman-houthis-bashir-sudan-yemen-uae/

(** B K P)

Wie Rheinmetall weiter Geschäfte mit den Saudis macht
Nach dem Mord an dem Journalisten Jamal Khashoggi verkündete die Bundeskanzlerin einen Exportstopp für Waffen nach Saudi-Arabien. Doch gerade aufgrund der immensen Nachfrage der Saudis baut Deutschlands Rüstungsriese Rheinmetall genau jetzt seine Produktionskapazitäten für Bomben aus, wie gemeinsame Recherchen von report München und Stern zeigen. An einem Standort in Italien, für den deutsches Exportrecht nicht greift. Möglich wird all dies durch Schlupflöcher in deutschen Gesetzen, die der Bundesregierung seit langem bekannt sind.

Was die Kanzlerin nicht sagt: Rüstungsgeschäfte in großem Umfang gehen völlig ungehindert weiter. Weil es ihre Regierung zulässt, dass es im deutschen Exportrecht große Schlupflöcher gibt, wie der ehemalige Präsident des Bundesamts für Wirtschaft und Ausfuhrkontrolle erklärt.

So konnte der saudische Prinz gleich mehrere Ex-Rheinmetall-Mitarbeiter für seinen neuen Rüstungskonzern SAMI anwerben, wie Recherchen von Report München und Stern ergeben haben. Problemlos, denn deutsche Behörden müssen solche Wechsel nicht genehmigen. In Ländern wie den USA ist das völlig anders

Und es gibt noch ein riesiges Schlupfloch in den deutschen Exportregeln.

Sardinien, im Südwesten der Insel. Hier baut die Rheinmetall AG gerade jetzt eine ihrer wichtigsten Bombenfabriken massiv aus. Ein Hauptkunde: Die Saudis. Ein Rheinmetall-Vorstand versicherte kürzlich mehreren Bankanalysten bei einer Telefonkonferenz, Munitionslieferungen aus Italien und von einer südafrikanischen Konzerntochter seien vom deutschen Exportstopp nicht betroffen. Der Wert der Lieferungen liege bei mehr als einhundert Millionen Euro im Jahr (Film)

https://www.br.de/fernsehen/das-erste/sendungen/report-muenchen/rheinmetall-ruestungsexporte-saudi-arabien-102.html

dazu auch: https://www.linksfraktion.de/presse/pressemitteilungen/detail/bundesregierung-laesst-waffendeals-mit-saudi-arabien-zu/

(** B K P)

Germany and Saudi Arabia: Weapons for a 'strategic' partner

Saudi Arabia is one of the German arms industry's top customers, despite human rights concerns over Yemen. It took the murder of Saudi journalist Khashoggi for Germany to temporarily halt arms exports. DW investigates.

Are German-made vessels part of the blockade?

DW is aware of at least three German-made patrol vessels which seem to have turned off their transponders — an indication, many believe, that they may have crossed into Yemeni waters. DW has not been able to verify whether they have indeed been used directly in the blockade.

Researcher Ali Jameel says his organization has documented several attacks on fishing vessels close to Hodeida, but has only been able to definitely link one of them to an Apache II helicopter, not any boats, let alone German ones.

But, experts agree, even if the German patrol boats are not actively engaged in the conflict, it is likely that they are at the very least freeing resources and ships more suitable for the blockade.

German components

However, Germany also makes components for multinational European export contracts, including for a multi-billion dollar agreement with Saudi Arabia to buy 48 new EurofighterTyphoon fighter jets from the UK. Roughly a third of the components, such as bolts, are supplied by Germany, experts say.

Those exports may also be on hold, DW has learned.

The temporary ban is reportedly limited to two months. And opposition politicians from the Left Party and the Greens told DW they are convinced the ban will soon be lifted.

For Saudi Arabia has long been a special partner for Western governments, including Germany, who consider the kingdom a "strategic" partner in the Middle East that government ministers like to describe as an "anchor of stability" in the region.

Saudi Arabia 'has a free pass'

Germany, he said, had a restrictive arms exports policy "only when it suits Germany" — and in the case of Saudi Arabia, for many years, it clearly didn't.

And, off the record, one official admitted that the German government is happy for other European countries to export weapons to Saudi Arabia, even if Germany's hands are bound by its decision to temporarily halt all exports. Germany, the official said, had a strong interest in Saudi Arabia's stability, implying that it could only be guaranteed by a steady flow of arms.

But, even with the export ban in place, German-made and designed arms are still ending up in Yemen.

German-designed bombs in Yemen

One example of several is Rheinmetall, a German arms corporation based in the western German city of Dusseldorf. One of its subsidiaries, RWM Italia, builds bombs on the Italian island of Sardinia. Ali Jameel and his team at Mwatana have been able to prove that in October 2016 a family of six, including a pregnant woman, was killed by a bomb produced by RWM Italia.

Saudi Arabia is trying to build its own arms industry

One example is its factory which produces G36 assault rifles with a license it bought from the southern German company Heckler and Koch in 2008.

More recently, it is seeking a broad partnership with the struggling South African arms maker Denel, which would include acquisition of the company's minority stake in a joint venture Denel holds with German Rheinmetall: Rheinmetall Denel Mution (RDM).

RDM specializes in medium and large-caliber ammunition including artillery shells – by Naomi Conrad, Matthias von Hein

https://www.dw.com/en/germany-and-saudi-arabia-weapons-for-a-strategic-partner/a-46573104

(** B H K P)

Children – Civilization’s Future, Victims of Western Brutality

The culture of greed and instant profit has no space for children, for their rights, for their up-brining within a frame of human rights, fair education, access to shelter and health services everywhere. For much of our western society, children are a nuisance, at best, a tool for cheap labor, especially when the west outsources its production processes to poor developing countries, mostly in Asia and Central America, so poor that they can not enforce laws against child labor – all to maximize corporate profits.

Otherwise the western driven killing and war machine indiscriminately slaughters children, by famine, by drones, by bombs, by disease – by abuse. Collateral damage? I doubt it. Children could be protected, even in illegal wars. But eradicating by death and poverty entire generations in nations the west intends to subdue has a purpose: rebuilding of these nations will not take place under the watch of educated children, grown adults, who would most likely oppose their ‘hangmen’, those that have destroyed their homes and families, their villages and towns, their schools and hospital, their drinking water supply systems – leaving them to the plight of cholera and other diseases brought about by lack of hygiene and sanitation. So, in the interest of the empire and its puppet allies, children’s calamities and crimes on them are at best under reported – in most cases nobody even cares.

Take the situation of Yemen, where for the last 3 ½ years the network of the world’s biggest mafia killer scheme, led by Saudi Arabia, as the patsy and foreign money funnel aiding the United States and her allies in crime, the UK, France, Spain, many of the Gulf states, until recently also Germany, and many more – has killed by bombs, starvation and cholera induced by willingly destroyed water supply and sanitation systems, maybe hundreds of thousands of children.

Imagine the suffering caused not just to the children, but to their parents, families, communities – what the west is doing is beyond words. Its beyond crime; and all those ‘leaders’ (sic) responsible will most likely never face a criminal court, as they are controlling all the major justice systems in the world. Though, no justice could make good for the killing and misery, but at least it could demonstrate that universal crime – as is the war on Yemen and many others fought for greed and power – is not tolerated with impunity.

At least two thirds of the refugees are children – no health care, no education, no suitable shelter, or none at all, malnourished-to-starving, raped, abused, enslaved – you name it.

Where do all these children go? What is their future? – There will be societies – Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan – missing a full generation. The countries are suffering a gap in educated people. This wanton gap will likely prevent rebuilding and developing their nations according to their sovereign rights. These countries are easier to control, subdue and enslave.

Just imagine, many of the lost children pass under the radar of human statistics, ignored, many of them are totally abandoned, no parents, no family, nobody to care for them, nobody to love them – they may quietly die – die in the gutters, unknown, anonymous. We – the brutal west – let them – by Peter Koenig

https://journal-neo.org/2018/11/29/children-civilization-s-future-victims-of-western-brutality/ = https://countercurrents.org/2018/11/30/children-civilizations-future-victims-of-western-brutality

cp1a Am wichtigsten: Seuchen / Most important: Epidemics

(* B H)

Rabies cases have increased in Abyan governorate and 36 cases have been recorded by the National Center for Rabies Control last month in four governorates (Shabwa, Lahj, Aden, and Abyan).

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1070432590371479556

(* A H)

14 million vaccine doses delivered to Yemen's Aden: UN

More than 14 million doses of vaccine for children have been delivered to Yemen’s southern city of Aden (which currently serves as the government’s interim capital), the UN children’s fund (UNICEF) said Thursday.

"More than 14 million doses of measles and rubella vaccine have arrived at Aden’s international airport," UNICEF’s Yemen office said in a tweet, noting that the doses were sufficient to meet the needs of some 13 million children between the ages of six months and 15 years.

“The vaccines were delivered as part of the next phase of a national campaign against measles and rubella in Yemen,” the agency said.

https://www.aa.com.tr/en/health/14-million-vaccine-doses-delivered-to-yemens-aden-un/1325012

(** B H)

Cholera in Yemen: A Case Study of Epidemic Preparedness and Response

The main objective was to identify lessons from September 28, 2016 to March 2018 (i.e., from the preparedness and detection phase to the end of second wave) to better prepare for future cholera outbreaks in Yemen and similar contexts. The methods included: literature reviews of global cholera guidance, cholera and other outbreak management in complex humanitarian emergencies and fragile states, and documents relating to the outbreak in Yemen; interpretation of surveillance data; and, key informant interviews (KII) with practitioners, donors, and technical experts involved in the response.

Prior to the outbreak, Yemen did not have a sufficient cholera preparedness and response plan. There was no plan despite previous cholera outbreaks, endemicity in the region, active conflict, and World Health Organization (WHO) regional office initiatives.

The 2016 cholera response plan evolved iteratively, but did not initially prioritize standard components. Initial gaps including epidemiological analysis to inform the response, and reference to the oral cholera vaccine, community surveillance, and infection prevention and control as well as emerging problems (e.g., improvement of laboratory capacity and monitoring of the application of the case definition).

The surveillance and laboratory systems were insufficiently prepared and inadequately modified to monitor the cholera epidemic during a complex emergency. The large number of suspect cases reported is likely much higher than the actual number meeting the suspect case definition. The lack of systematic use of culture-confirmation and the late adoption of epidemiological investigation and quality control made it difficult to address the high proportion of mild suspect cases.

Decision-making was driven by the humanitarian need to integrate services due to a lack of human resources and functioning health centers.

CONCLUSIONS:

The cholera response in Yemen was and remains extremely complicated and challenging for a variety of political, security, cultural, and environmental reasons. The study team recognizes these challenges and commends the government, international and national organizations, and the donors for working to find solutions in such a difficult context. There are no easy fixes to these challenges, and the conclusions and recommendations are meant to be constructive and practical, taking into account the extreme limitations of working in Yemen during an active conflict.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/cholera-yemen-case-study-epidemic-preparedness-and-response and full study: https://reliefweb.int/sites/reliefweb.int/files/resources/CHOLERA_YEMEN_REPORT_LONG_Low_Res_Dec_4_2018.pdf

(* B H)

A medical source in Alrazi General hospital in #Abyan governorate reported about 1,000 cases of suspected cholera last month.

https://twitter.com/BelqeesRights/status/1069714702077476864

cp1b Am wichtigsten: Kampf um Hodeidah / Most important: Hodeidah battle

(* A K pH)

More than 3 women killed in coalition's shelling on Hodeidah

At least three women were killed on Thursday and others civilians were injured in Saudi-led coalition shelling on Hodeidah province, a security official said.
The official said that the aggression coalition’s warships shelled civilians’ homes in Durihamai district in the western coast leaving human and material casualties.

The Saudi-led coalition warplanes waged an air strike on the main road linkin Zabid and Husseinieh districts.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517882.htm

(* A K pS)

Emirati-backed Yemeni forces captured the al Houthi navy headquarters in al Hudaydah city, according to a pro-Hadi government source. Giants Brigade forces reportedly found lists of foreign trainers of al Houthi forces, Iranian-made equipment, and military plans. Giants Brigade forces attacked the al Houthi navy headquarters after al Houthi forces violated a ceasefire and shelled residential areas under coalition control, according to a Giants Brigade spokesperson.[3]

https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-december-5-2018

(* A K pS)

Houthis booby-trap Kamran Island with sea mines

Houthi militias have booby-trapped the populated Kamran Island with sea mines, local sources told Alsahwa Net.

A sea mine exploded on Sunday, killing four fishermen who were fishing in the area of Rasha, close to Kamran Island.

A Saudi newspaper quoted officials of the local authorities of Kamran as saying that the western area of Kamran Island was intensively planted with sea mines.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-25817

(A K pH)

Three citizens were injured on Wednesday by targeting of the US-Saudi mercenaries at a farm in Attohayta district, in Hodeidah province

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4183&cat_id=1

(A K pH)

4 Saudi-Led Airstrikes Hit Hodeidah

Three strikes hit areas behind al-Kuwait hospital and other air raid targeted an area nearby al-Etihad hotel in 7 July area

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517783.htm

(A K pH)

Woman killed in attack launched by mercenaries in western coast

The woman was killed in Jabaliah area in the district of Tuhaita

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517750.htm

(A K pH)

2 Saudi airstrikes hit Hodeidah

The air strikes hit al-Katarya village in Bit al-Faqya district (Dec. 5)

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517734.htm

(A K pH)

Saudi-led airstrike targets former President al-Hamdi's house in Hodeidah

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517639.htm

(A K pH)

Saudi-led mercenaries shell border village in western coast

The forces of rocketry belonging to the mercenaries of the US-backed Saudi-led aggression coalition shelled on Tuesday the village of Sheikh in Kilo 16 in western coast, a security official told Saba.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517596.htm

(A K pH)

In a non-final toll, A child was killed and a number of her family were injured by hysterical targeting by the US-Saudi mercenaries with over 50 Katyusha missiles, destroying a number of houses.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4156&cat_id=1

(A K pH)

US-Saudi aggression also launched a raid northern Youth City, a raid on a building in Al-Mena'a district and two raids on Attohayta district.

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4155&cat_id=1

(* B H K)

UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs: Yemen: Al Hudaydah Update Situation Report No. 15, Reporting period: 14 November - 2 December 2018

During the reporting period, humanitarian partners continued to pre-position life-saving supplies in Al Hudaydah City where a reduction in hostilities since 12 November provided a much-needed respite to the population.

Conflict however did not completely stop; sporadic fighting, shelling and bombardment continued to pose a threat to civilians in Al Hudaydah City and in other parts of the governorate. In Al Hudaydah City, clashes persisted in the east and northeast of the city, particularly around Al Saleh Residential Complex near 50 Street and Kilo 16.

Military activities continued in the coastal districts of Ad Durayhimi, At Tuhayat and Bayt Al Faqiah as well as in Hays District. Airstrikes and shelling hit main roads in At Tuhayat and Zabid districts several times.

The Protection Cluster estimates that there were up to 1,460 civilian casualties in November and that fighting damaged 200 homes, and an unspecified number farms and humanitarian sites.

As part of the Al Hudaydah Response Plan, partners have pre-positioned 15,000 hygiene and transit kits and 8,000 immediate response rations kits in warehouses in the three districts of Al Hudaydah City. They have also pre-positioned 3,750 non-food item (NFI) packages, 500 emergency shelter kits, 1,000 tents and 40,000 food baskets. An additional 15,000 hygiene kits have been pre-positioned in warehouses belonging to the city’s local water and sanitation corporation.

The value of the Yemeni Rial in Al Hudaydah City increased significantly during the reporting period, with exchange rates reaching 390YER/USD, up from 665YER/US$

To help the displaced through the winter, the Yemen Humanitarian Fund has launched an allocation to provide winterisation assistance for people affected by the Al Hudaydah crisis.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-al-hudaydah-update-situation-report-no-15-reporting-period-14-november-2-december

(A K pS)

Film: Scenes from the confrontations of the previous two days

https://twitter.com/HamedGhaleb/status/1069641655781916672

cp2 Allgemein / General

(B H K P)

Film: Bürgerkrieg im Jemen: Tausende Gefangene sollen freikommen - der Hunger bleibt

https://www.wr.de/video/buergerkrieg-im-jemen-tausende-gefangene-sollen-freikommen-der-hunger-bleibt-id215956351.html

(B P)

Wenn 28 Millionen notleidende Menschen hoffen

In Stockholm wird über ein Ende des verheerenden Jemen-Kriegs verhandelt. Saudi-Arabien muss sich bewegen - sein Erzfeind Iran auch. Ein Kommentar.

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/friedensgespraeche-fuer-den-jemen-wenn-28-millionen-notleidende-menschen-hoffen/23729128.html

Mein Kommentar: Oberflächlich, schnell hingeschrieben. Dass iranische Waffenlieferungen irgendeine größere Rolle spielen, ist Quatsch.

(B P)

A Long Time Coming: Saudi-Made Famine in Yemen

The world needs to act now because according to a new report by the World Food Program, Yemeni civilians are enduring a famine.

1- The world community supports the ongoing peace talks, forces Saudi Arabia and its allies to end their airstrikes and blockade, and allow international humanitarian aid into the famine-hit areas, including the port city of Hodeida.

2- The political consultations are the first step toward putting Yemen on the path to peace.

3- The ongoing famine and soaring civilian death toll has brought even more to the side of ending Western support for the conflict

4- The Trump administration refuses to tamp down the panic-mongering and cheap political theater of “Iran presence in Yemen”, supplies the Saudis with weapons with which to flatten Yemeni neighbourhoods and kill civilians, generate more refugees, and strengthen ISIL and Al-Qaeda.

The United Nations should create an international commission of inquiry to investigate the Saudi violations of international law as well.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970915000791

(A K P)

Former French Ambassador to Yemen Reveals Falsity of US-Saudi Aggression on Yemen

Former French ambassador to Yemen, Gilles Gauthier, revealed the falsity of the Saudi-Emirati coalition in its war on Yemen under the pretext of restoring the so-called legitimacy, Hadi’s government.

"There is a clear will from the Saudis and the UAE to weaken Yemen from long time ... because they are afraid of Yemen and they are wrong," Gauthier said during a show aired by F24 channel on Tuesday.

(* B H K)

Landmines pose lingering threat in war-ravaged Yemen

Devastated by hunger and war, civilians on Yemen's western coast, south of the flashpoint port of Hodeida, are coming face to face with the lingering threat posed by thousands of landmines planted mostly by the Huthi rebels.

The Iran-aligned insurgents have been accused by human rights groups of extensively using landmines to hinder the advance of Saudi-backed pro-government forces.

"Huthi forces have repeatedly laid anti-personnel, anti-vehicle and improvised mines as they withdrew from areas in Aden, Taez, Marib and, more recently, along Yemen's western coast," HRW said.

Not far from Al-Hameli, children walk barefoot through the dusty desert terrain along the edge of a minefield, demarcated by small rocks and a red and white sign marked with a skull and crossbones.

Here, mine clearing teams are searching the sand trying to remove the dangerous devices.

"Following lots of suffering, exhaustion and threats while living as displaced, we thought we will find rest in our home," said Abdullah's uncle Abdel Latif.

"Instead we found the threat of landmines, among others."

A source in the government delegation said President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's camp would seek maps detailing minefields laid by the rebels as part of "confidence-building" measures between the two sides.

Hassan al-Jahwari, head of the Saudi-backed Masam landmine clearance project, said he had 16 teams working around Mokha to clear mines.

"The first team arrived in August and in collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme, we were able to clear 9,000 mines planted by the Huthis in addition to other explosive devices," Jahwari said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6468059/Landmines-pose-lingering-threat-war-ravaged-Yemen.html

film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5nEXb3HUtGw

(* B H K P)

Yemen: 85,000. Dead. Kids.

In Yemen, a place where things couldn’t get worse, things have gotten worse.

85,000 children under the age of five may have died during the war in Yemen, according to the international charitable group Save the Children.

The images of dead, starving, and mutilated Yemenis are so horrific that the Timestook the unprecedented step of explaining why it was running the photos. The reason: because the world needs to see what the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, assisted by the US, are doing to Yemen.

The decision to end in-flight refueling of coalition aircraft may have been made to forestall more radical action by Congress where the war has become increasingly unpopular among members of both parties. What kind of action? There have been several attempts to invoke the 1973 War Powers Resolution.

Ending US involvement in Yemen via the War Powers Resolution is a long shot.

We should not be too hopeful about these latest talks. I say this based on how the Saudis’ reacted to a draft UN Security Council cease-fire resolution prepared by the UK. In addition to establishing a cease-fire, the resolution would allow food and other humanitarian aid to reach millions of desperate Yemenis.

The real reason for the 2015 US entry into the war was because President Barack Obama wanted to throw a bone to the Gulf States which had opposed his Iran nuclear deal.

With or without a cease-fire, the US needs to get out of Yemen. To prevent one more child from dying, the war must end now – by Charles Pierson

https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/06/yemen-85000-dead-kids/

(* B H K P)

How the World Failed Yemen

Peter Salisbury explains how Yemen was pushed into the abyss of famine. Here is his sobering conclusion: […]

The international response to Yemen’s catastrophe has been slow and inadequate from the start, and despite the increasing severity and urgency of the crisis that has not changed significantly. There is now more attention being paid to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis, but while this is an improvement it has come several years later than it should have. It seemed as if the Security Council was finally going to act, but the Trump administration stepped in to prevent that at the behest of the Saudi coalition. A cynic might indeed argue that the Trump administration’s feigned interest in negotiations and a ceasefire was a tactic to weaken support for antiwar resolutions in Congress and buying time for the coalition. Luckily, the administration failed to quash opposition to the war, and its own ham-fisted attempts at justifying continued support for the war have backfired spectacularly. Unfortunately, the administration has managed to buy the coalition more time.

The U.S. is not alone in its culpability for creating this disaster, but our government’s role has been a particularly shameful one.

The rest of the world has utterly failed Yemen because, as Salisbury says, all of the governments and institutions that could have prevented famine there were more concerned about almost anything else but the welfare of the civilian population.

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/how-the-world-failed-yemen/

(? B K P)

Jemen oder: Das saudische Vietnam (kostenpflichtig)

https://www.blaetter.de/archiv/jahrgaenge/2018/dezember/jemen-oder-das-saudische-vietnam

(B K P)

Sieben Fragen an Elham Manea zur grössten humanitären Krise

Die jemenitisch-schweizerische Politologin Elham Manea (52) beantwortet sieben brennende Fragen.

Dieser Krieg hat gezeigt, dass keine der Parteien in der Lage ist, den Krieg zu gewinnen. Er führt in eine Sackgasse und lässt das menschliche Leiden immer mehr anwachsen.

Zwar finden die Verhandlungen in Schweden nach der Khashoggi-Affäre und auch auf Druck der USA statt, die ein Ende des Krieges fordern. Aber ich bin skeptisch. Präsident Hadi weiss, dass er mit dem Ende des Krieges abtreten müsste. Und die Huthi-Miliz hat grosse Gebiete erobert, die sie nicht einfach zurückgeben wird. Auch gegen eine Entwaffnung wird sie sich wehren.

Die Schweiz, genau wie Schweden und das Sultanat Oman, ist in der Lage, eine vermittelnde Rolle zu spielen.

https://www.blick.ch/news/ausland/sieben-fragen-an-elham-manea-zur-groessten-humanitaeren-krise-die-schweiz-koennte-jemen-als-vorbild-dienen-id15051109.html

(B K P)

Die zynischen Machtspiele im Jemen müssen ein Ende haben

USA und Europäer sind mitverantwortlich für das Sterben im arabischen Land: Ihr saudischer Alliierter führt hier einen Stellvertreterkrieg gegen den Iran.

Der Konflikt im Jemen wurde von anderen Kriegen überschattet: Die internationale Aufmerksamkeit galt dem Blutbad in Syrien, dem Chaos im Irak, dem gefährlichen Aufstieg des IS. Dass es – anders als bei Syrien – aus dem Jemen kaum Flüchtlinge bis nach Europa geschafft haben, hat dazu wohl auch beigetragen.

Doch wichtige europäische Staaten und die USA tragen eine Mitverantwortung für das Sterben im Jemen.

https://diepresse.com/home/meinung/kommentare/leitartikel/5541875/Die-zynischen-Machtspiele-im-Jemen-muessen-ein-Ende-haben

Mein Kommentar: Ein leider recht oberflächlicher Kommentar:

(* B P)

One of my pet peeves is talking about "ungoverned spaces" in Yemen - they don't exist. There are "under-governed spaces" and "poorly governed spaces" but no "ungoverned spaces."

Yemen as a variety of legal codes, including 'urf, a mixture of tribal and customary law that holds sway in places where the central state is weak.

But Yemen is not this chaotic, Mad Max world where there are no laws. Groups in Yemen - like AQAP and others - understand the laws at work and attempt to manipulate them to their own advantage.

The US and other outside powers appear to throw up their hands and say 'because we can't understand the legal system at play in the hinterlands there must not be a legal system'. But that is false.

https://twitter.com/gregorydjohnsen/status/1070350680681005056

(* B H K P)

Yemen’s looming famine has been a long time coming

Analysts have long argued that, if left unchecked, Yemen’s political, economic and fiscal crises were all but certain to cause a massive, debilitating famine. As Yemen barrels toward this worst-case scenario, what is most disturbing is that there is no indication the trend will be stopped, even when people start dying in unprecedented numbers.

Almost four years into the country’s civil war, 22 million people in Yemen now require some sort of assistance.

So it’s odd that the perception in Washington is that a recent burst of attention directed toward Yemen by Trump administration officials and lawmakers is some kind of breakthrough. Calls for peace talks unaccompanied by concrete action and debates on the Senate floor are likely to be too little, too late — if they amount to anything at all.

Protection of Hodeida

Now, Yemeni forces backed by the United Arab Emirates — the Saudis’ main partner in Yemen — are massing around Hodeida, a trade inlet that accounts for some 70 percent of all basics like fuel, food and medicine imported into Yemen. It’s the only source of supplies for about 10 million people. A battle for the port and city would probably be long, brutal and destructive. It would cut off trade for weeks or months, causing shortages and price spikes that would push food and clean water even further out of reach for millions of Yemenis.

Given the gravity of the situation, it is dispiriting to learn that the Trump administration, along with Saudi Arabia and the UAE, has spent the past several weeks agitating against a British-drafted U.N. Security Council resolution on Yemen that, among other things, explicitly demands the protection of the Hodeida port.

When the famine comes, the United States will not be alone in its culpability. Yemen represents a long-term failure of the international system and the U.N. Security Council in particular. As the country slips into unimaginable, desperate hunger, it’s important to understand that what is happening was utterly, tragically predictable. The people who should have known knew. They just had other priorities – by Peter Salisbury

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2018/12/05/yemens-looming-famine-has-been-a-long-time-coming/

(* B K P)

America and Britain Complicit in Saudi Acts of Genocide in Yemen: 85,000 Children Dead, 14 Million at “Risk of Starvation”

Corporate politicians try and defend the military actions of the Saudi led coalition in Yemen by sheer unadulterated lies. UK Foreign Office Minister Alistair Burtin a debate in the House of Commons blithely stated that the Saudi led coalition had not breached any international law.*

Yet evidence of war crimes in Yemen abound.

In Yemen the Saudi and UAE led coalition has systematically set out to destroy the resources of farmers, herders and fishers alongside the deliberate targeting of food processing, storage, transport and water irrigation.

This falls under the UN definition of genocidal acts.

A new report by Professor Martha Mundy, The Strategies of the Coalition in the Yemen War: Aerial bombardment and food war, provides a very detailed analysis of the bombing campaigns carried out by the Saudi led coalition in Yemen. This provides clear evidence of the genocidal nature of the military campaign that is supported by the American and British governments.

The US and UK along with France are well known for being the major arms sellers to the Saudi coalition and for protecting its more well known war crimes from diplomatic censure. Less well known is their support for the Saudi coalitions economic war against Yemen, a major cause of starvation, and the deliberate destruction of Yemen’s water and food infrastructure.

https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-uk-complicit-saudi-acts-genocide-yemen/5661830

(B H K)

Yemen's 'descent into hell' in numbers

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-aid-factbox/yemens-descent-into-hell-in-numbers-idUSKBN1O423W

(* B K P)

Yemeni Children And A Cruel World

Whilst still processing this extensively demoralizing and cruel information that the war in Yemen is weaponised by Western powers and that Saudi Arabia stepped into the fray only because Iran backed one of the factions in the then internal political warfare, another devastating news arrived from the Western media that so far 85,000 children in Yemen have died from starvation occasioned by the needless war which is been fueled by Iran, Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia too is making use of weapons it bought from U.S.A; Britain and other world powers.

What immediately occurred to me was to ask why the United States of America has allowed history to repeat itself.

Why would America be involved in fueling such war that has serious consequences to the lives of innocent children when it is on record that America single handedly rebuilt Europe from the devastation of the World War II? It looks like in international politics when things seems to have normalized certain belligerent attitudes of some weird political stakeholders would once more reignite the toxic warfare that took place many years ago and especially the one that ended in 1945 resulting in the global intervention of the USA through the Marshall plan that successfully reconstructed the then devastated Europe.

Justice Emmanuel Ayoola, a former Justice of the Supreme Court of Nigeria has this to tell us about the implications of letting crimes against humanity go on.

He wrote that crimes against humanity has eleven acts that qualify each crime as war crime and these are classified and criminalised as crimes against humanity.

Only murder, he however stated will be mentioned here.

His words: “For the purpose of the statute, ‘crime against humanity’ means the act of murder or causing death when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population, with knowledge of the attack.

The elements of the crime against humanity of murder are in the considered opinion of Ayoola who was once the Chief justice of Gambia are as follows: “The perpetrator killed one or more persons; the conducts was committed as part of widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population; the perpetrator knew that the conduct was part of or intended the conduct to be part of a widespread or systematic attack against a civilian population.”

https://leadership.ng/2018/12/05/yemeni-children-and-a-cruel-world/

(A P)

#KSA Ambassadors to Yemen and the US have both reiterated that the Kingdom will not allow the existence of another #Hezbollah in the Arabian Peninsula, stressing that the #Iranian project in Yemen would be defeated.

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1070082066522480640

My comment: This is justifying a military interference into a neighbouring country, based on a propaganda tall story. There is no “Iranian pro

(A P)

.@Twitter has suspended the official @OpDesanitize account, a shared account which publishes graphic photos from war zones the US is involved in--mainly Yemen. This comes after the account a recent tweet questioning the Center for American Progress' connections to the UAE.

UPDATE: @OpDeSanitize is back! Thanks for the help, all!

https://twitter.com/WalkerBragman/status/1069785318788861952

(* B H P)

Yemen and the Crime of Mass Starvation

Alex de Waal is a leading expert on the history of famine and the author of Mass Starvation: The History and Future of Famine. Here he makes the case that Mohammed bin Salman and Mohamed bin Zayed are guilty of using mass starvation as a weapon in the war on Yemen and should be prosecuted for it.

Mohammed bin Salman and Mohamed bin Zayed are the architects of the worst famine in decades. They are on par with some of the most destructive war criminals of the previous century. To make things worse, they have done all of this out in the open with the ongoing support of the U.S. and other Western governments. Anyone paying close attention to Yemen’s humanitarian crisis has long understood the Saudi coalition’s responsibility for creating the disaster, but between their lobbyists, an indulgent administration, and a lack of adequate media coverage these leaders and their governments have been able to avoid much of the opprobrium they deserve.

De Waal anticipates possible defenses that Mohammed bin Salman might use, but dismisses them and counters by saying this:

https://www.theamericanconservative.com/larison/yemen-and-the-crime-of-mass-starvation/

(* B P)

One year on, Yemen's Saleh as divisive in death as he was in life

On the anniversary of Ali Abdullah Saleh's death, his supporters are hailing the former president as a patriot; but not everyone feels that way.

Not everyone sees it that way, however, and the anniversary of Saleh’s death, which fell on 2 December, has enflamed Yemeni social media.

Many supporters of the 2011-12 revolution against Saleh have decried his supporters’ characterisation of the move against the Houthis as a righteous uprising.

“They [Saleh's supporters] were waiting for Afash [Saleh] to save them from the Houthis, but in the end the Houthis saved them from Afash. Bad friends die enemies," he wrote on Facebook.

“The black history of the Afafish’s [Saleh's supporters] dead leader means they are trying to create for themselves a [positive] memory and described the anniversary as one of an uprising.”

Mohammed Abdul Bari, a member of the pro-government Islah party that Saleh’s forces are now fighting alongside, told Middle East Eye he considers the former president a malign figure.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/one-year-yemens-saleh-divisive-death-he-was-life-395327531

and

(A P)

GPC Rally Marks One Year since Yemeni Leader's Slaying

Nephew of the late Yemeni President Ali Abdullah and military commander Tareq Saleh successfully rallied tens of thousands of General People’s Congress supporters to commemorate the anniversary of his uncle’s death. The ceremony was held at Al Khawkhah District in Hodeidah.
The late Saleh had founded the GPC in 1982.
Tribal leaders, alongside Hodeidah governor Alhassan Al Taher, and lawmakers attended the event marking a year since the country’s former president was killed by Iran-backed Houthis for switching sides in the Yemeni conflict.

https://aawsat.com/english/home/article/1491921/gpc-rally-marks-one-year-yemeni-leaders-slaying

Film: Saleh followers assembling: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BffB3CDmfSc

(* B H P)

Yemen will need billions to run government, avoid rial collapse: UN aid chief

Yemen’s government will need billions of dollars in external support to finance its 2019 budget and avoid another currency collapse in addition to $4 billion in aid, U.N. aid chief Mark Lowcock said on Tuesday.

Lowcock said he had discussed the balance of payments deficit and the need to pay Yemeni salaries and pensions with officials from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and the United States at weekend talks in Riyadh.

“There is going to be a need for billions of dollars of support so they can finance core functions of government,” Lowcock told a news conference. “Unless they get some external finance for their budget these problems we saw with the rial plummeting will be back.”

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-un-aid/yemen-will-need-billions-to-run-government-avoid-rial-collapse-un-aid-chief-idUSKBN1O30TP

and

(* B H P)

UN aid chief: Yemen talks not an 'easy or rapid process'

The U.N. humanitarian aid chief says he doesn't expect an "easy or rapid process" in peace talks aimed at ending Yemen's devastating civil war, which are set to begin later this week.

Mark Lowcock, head of the world body's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, spoke to The Associated Press on Monday after laying out the organization's 2019 humanitarian appeal.

OCHA says $21.9 billion is needed next year for food, shelter, health care, education, protection and other assistance worldwide. It predicts nearly 132 million people in 42 countries will need assistance.

The worst humanitarian crisis is in Yeme

https://www.foxnews.com/world/un-aid-chief-yemen-talks-not-an-easy-or-rapid-process

(* B K P)

WILL YEMEN WAR FINALLY END? IRAN WELCOMES PEACE TALKS AS U.S. SUPPORT FOR SAUDI ARABIA AT RISK

Iran has praised the Yemeni peace talks scheduled to take place soon in Sweden, just as U.S. lawmakers were contemplating the future of their country's military assistance to Saudi Arabia in the conflict.

[Overview]

https://www.newsweek.com/yemen-war-iran-peace-talks-us-saudi-1241794

cp2a Saudische Blockade / Saudi blockade

(A P)

Deputy PM calls UN to free fuel ships held in Djibouti

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, Hussein Maqboli, on Tuesday stressed the importance of the United Nations' role in releasing fuel vessels held by Saudi-led aggression coalition in the state of Djibouti, as an urgent humanitarian necessity.
[Foreign Minister Sharaf:] "The continued holding of these vessels will disrupt the work of vital facilities, particularly hospitals and drinking water wells, and could lead to a humanitarian catastrophe," Sharaf said during a meeting with the UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator in Sanaa, Lise Grande.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517687.htm

Remark: Ministers of Houthi government at Sanaa.

cp3 Humanitäre Lage / Humanitarian situation

Siehe / Look at cp1

(* B H)

Care-Deutschland-Chef: "Aus dem Jemen flieht niemand nach Europa"

Verglichen mit Naturkatastrophen fallen Spenden für Kriegsopfer gering aus. Im Interview mit der DW spricht Karl-Otto Zentel über das Leid im Jemen, die Pflicht der Bundesregierung und die Friedensgespräche in Stockholm.

Was wäre ihrer Ansicht nach nötig, um das Leid der Menschen erst einmal abzumildern?

Eine Waffenruhe ist für die Zivilbevölkerung vorrangig. Und dann natürlich freier und ungehinderter Zugang für Hilfen in alle Gebiete, damit die Menschen, die Hilfe am dringendsten benötigen, sie auch erhalten.

Woran leiden die Menschen am meisten?

Zum einen schlichtweg an Hunger. Jemen ist für 90 Prozent seiner Nahrungsmittel auf Importe angewiesen. Und wenn dann die wichtigsten Häfen nicht voll zugänglich sind und das Entladen von Schiffen durch Kampfhandlungen behindert wird, kann einfach nicht genug Nahrung ins Land kommen.

Dazu kommt die Vertreibung aus Städten: Familien fliehen aufs Land, in notdürftige Unterkünfte, und sind dort der Witterung schutzlos ausgeliefert. Ich habe viele Kinder mit Hautekzemen gesehen. Durch die kaum funktionierende Wasserversorgung kommen Cholera und andere Durchfallerkrankungen dazu. Durch das zusammengebrochene Gesundheitssystem gibt es kaum noch Impfungen. Polio und Diphterie treten deshalb immer häufiger auf. Und was häufig vergessen wird: Viele Menschen mit chronischen Erkrankungen wie Diabetes oder auch Diagnosen wie Krebs haben keine Überlebenschance mehr: Die Krankenhäuser sind überfüllt und unterversorgt, eine medizinische Evakuierung nicht möglich, weil die Flughäfen für zivilen Verkehr geschlossen sind.

https://www.dw.com/de/care-deutschland-chef-aus-dem-jemen-flieht-niemand-nach-europa/a-46613680

CARE auch: https://www.presseportal.de/pm/6745/4136376

(* B H)

Yemen is 'the biggest humanitarian disaster in the world'

Karl-Otto Zentel, the general secretary of the aid organization Care Deutschland, spoke with DW about the civil war and the chances for peace.

On the one hand, they are simply starving. Recently when I was there, many women told me that they eat less so that they can ensure that their children survive. In addition, there is the expulsion from cities like Hodeida, which are conflict zones: Families flee to the countryside to live in makeshift shelters, where they are then at the mercy of the weather.

I saw many children with eczema, in addition to diarrheal diseases due to the poor water supply. This is also one of the main reasons for the renewed rise in cholera.

And something often forgotten: Many people with chronic illnesses such as diabetes or cancer no longer have a chance of survival. Hospitals are overcrowded and undersupplied; medical evacuation is not possible because the airports are closed to civilian traffic. And, due to the collapsed health system, there are hardly any vaccinations left. Because of this, polio and diphtheria are on the rise.

https://www.dw.com/en/yemen-is-the-biggest-humanitarian-disaster-in-the-world/a-46622229

(B H K)

Jemen: Ärzte ohne Grenzen fordert mehr Schutz für die Zivilbevölkerung

Ärzte ohne Grenzen ruft anlässlich aktuell stattfindender Gespräche zum Jemen in Stockholm alle Kriegsparteien auf, das Leid der jemenitischen Bevölkerung zu lindern. Zudem muss der Schutz von Krankenhäusern und Gesundheitspersonal gewährleistet sein. „Geld allein ist nicht genug. Wir brauchen sowohl Zugang für humanitäre Helfer, um die Bedürftigsten zu erreichen, als auch Zugang der Bevölkerung zu den Gesundheitseinrichtungen“, sagt Jana Brandt, die für Ärzte ohne Grenzen von Berlin aus die Projekte im Jemen mitkoordiniert.

https://www.aerzte-ohne-grenzen.de/presse/jemen-schutz-zivilbevoelkerung

(* B H K)

"Jemen ist keine Tragödie, sondern ein Verbrechen"

Im Jemen herrscht seit Jahren Bürgerkrieg, Zehntausende hungern. Der frühere britische Außenminister und IRC-Präsident Miliband erklärt, wie geholfen werden kann - und welche Rolle Deutschland dabei spielt.

Die Menschen verhungern. Lebensmittel wären genug da, doch diese werden nicht ins Land gelassen. Treibstoff ist so teuer, dass kaum etwas transportiert werden kann. Überall stehen Autos und Busse am Straßenrand, weil sie kein Benzin haben. Und noch tragischer ist, dass Kinder darauf warten, gegen Unterernährung behandelt zu werden. Jemen wird manchmal als Tragödie bezeichnet, aber eigentlich ist es ein Verbrechen - oder eine Serie von Verbrechen.

Die Uno hat auf allen Seiten Kriegsverbrechen dokumentiert.

Das größte Hindernis für humanitäre Hilfe sind die Kämpfe. Die effektivste Maßnahme ist daher eine Waffenruhe.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-ist-keine-tragoedie-sondern-ein-verbrechen-sagt-david-miliband-a-1242104.html

(* B H)

Number of Yemenis in food crisis or emergency could hit 20 million: WFP

A survey of food security in Yemen has found more than 15 million people are in a “crisis” or “emergency” situation and that number could hit 20 million without sustained food aid, the U.N. World Food Programme said in a statement on Thursday.

The survey, carried out by Yemeni and international experts in October according to an international system for classifying food crises, also found about 65,000 in a food “catastrophe” or near famine levels, mostly in conflict zones. That number that could rise to 237,000 if aid does not get through, the WFP said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-hunger/number-of-yemenis-in-food-crisis-or-emergency-could-hit-20-million-wfp-idUSKBN1O51LU

(* B H)

Save the Children: Famine or Not, 120,000 Children in Yemen are in a ‘Catastrophic’ Condition

In response to the release of a new report on food insecurity in Yemen, Tamer Kirolos, Save the Children’s Yemen Country Director said: “Whether or not we call the hunger crisis in Yemen a famine is irrelevant to the millions of children going hungry every day and to their parents who struggle to put food on the table.

“The new food insecurity survey released today shows that the hunger crisis in Yemen has been getting worse over the past year with an estimated 120,000 children now classed as living in ‘catastrophic’ conditions. This means that even with humanitarian aid they have not been meeting their daily food needs for some time, with evidence of starvation, death and destitution. Millions more children could fall into this category unless they receive urgent help.

“Save the Children estimates that 85,000 children may have already died from extreme hunger and disease since the war escalated in 2015, and that number is rising every day.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/famine-or-not-120000-children-yemen-are-catastrophic-condition

(* B H P)

The head of the U.N. food agency has accused Shiite Houthi rebels of blocking access to food deliveries to civilians devastated by the war in Yemen.

World Food Program chief David Beasley, who has previously criticized the Saudi-led coalition for a blockade of Yemeni ports, told The Associated Press on Thursday that it's now the Houthis who are impeding access in parts of the country.

In an interview at the agency's headquarters in Rome, Beasley says: "I'm on their back because we have access issues out into different areas throughout Yemen. We need more people; they blocked our visas. We need equipment, they blocked our equipment, they blocked our access."

https://www.aspendailynews.com/associated_press/the-latest-un-official-says-houthis-blocking-access-to-food/article_257d5f5d-1e2c-545a-b847-78c5889443a5.html

(* B H)

New nutrition analysis confirms children are being starved in Yemen

The IRC has increased its nutrition work in the country, reaching more than 110,000 people in the last 12 months

New integrated food security and classification (IPC) report shows 240,000 Yemeni civilians are living in famine conditions

The number of districts experiencing critical levels of acute malnutrition has doubled since the start of the war

Near the frontlines of the war, the IRC is seeing a global acute malnutrition rate (GAM) of 27%, close to double the global emergency threshold of 15%

https://www.rescue.org/press-release/new-nutrition-analysis-confirms-children-are-being-starved-yemen

(* B H)

UN Children's Fund: Yemen’s children: 15 million lives scarred and voices not heard

Statement from Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at the end of his visit to Yemen

“The living conditions of millions of children in Yemen are a disgrace. There is no excuse for these dark realities in the 21st century. Wars, deep economic crises and decades of underdevelopment have not spared a single girl or boy in Yemen. The suffering of children is all man-made.

“The toll of almost four years of the recent fighting across Yemen is mind-boggling, with more than 2,700 children recruited to fight an adults’ war. Over 6,700 children were verified killed or severely injured. Nearly 1.5 million children have been displaced, many of them living a life that is a mere shadow of what childhood should be.

“In Yemen today, 7 million children go to sleep hungry every night. Every single day, 400,000 children face life-threatening severe acute malnutrition and could die any minute. More than 2 million children are out of school; those who are in school often have to settle for poor quality education in overcrowded classrooms.

“Only when engaging with the children directly does one realise how numerous and deep the scars are. Behind the numbers, there are children with names, faces, families, friends, stories, shattered dreams and lives cut short.

“Do these numbers - and the stories behind them - actually matter? They should have shocked the world into action long ago. The current war and the economic crisis are making an already dire situation much, much worse. The interests of Yemeni children have hardly been taken into account in any decision-making for decades.

“Today, almost every single child in Yemen depends on humanitarian assistance to survive.

https://www.unicef.org/mena/press-releases/yemens-children-15-million-lives-scarred-and-voices-not-heard

(* B H)

Film: Krieg und Armut: Hungernde Kinder im Jemen

Der seit dreieinhalb Jahren andauernde Bürgerkrieg im Jemen hat das Land an den Rand einer Hungersnot gestürzt. Vor allem Kinder sind Opfer akuter Mangelernährung. Internationale Organisationen können nur vereinzelt helfen.

https://www.dw.com/de/krieg-und-armut-hungernde-kinder-im-jemen/av-46568562

(B H)

Welternährungsprogramm-Expertin zum Hungerleid im Jemen"Das bricht einem das Herz"

Bettina Lüscher (Sprecherin des Welternährungsprogramms, World Food Programme, in Berlin): Es ist die schlimmste humanitäre Katastrophe, die sich gerade auf dieser Welt abspielt. Wir versorgen in diesem Monat zehn Millionen Menschen, wahrscheinlich werden wir im kommenden Jahr auf zwölf Millionen aufstocken müssen. Die Menschen im Jemen wissen nicht mehr, wie sie ihre Kinder am Leben halten sollen. Das ist tragisch, weil die Krise nur durch den Krieg verursacht wurde.

Wir versuchen eine akute Hungerkatastrophe, wie man sie seit Jahrzehnten nicht mehr gesehen hat, zu vermeiden. Das haben wir bislang zwar geschafft. Eigentlich können wir das aber nur, wenn endlich der Krieg aufhört. Das Land wäre nicht am Rande einer Hungerkatastrophe, wenn es den Krieg nicht gäbe.

https://www.domradio.de/themen/soziales/2018-12-05/das-bricht-einem-das-herz-welternaehrungsprogramm-expertin-zum-hungerleid-im-jemen

(B H)

@ruawfd youth volunteers implemented #1058 Self-help INIT. in Yemen just during 2017 & 2018 as follows: 67 in rural roads 237 in education & illiteracy 54 in Agr, Fish & Cattle 273 in Health. 136 in Water, CLTS 75 in Life Skills. 154 in HUM. & Relief 62 in Awareness Campaign & BC

https://twitter.com/ruawfd/status/1070338345379741696

(A H)

In 1st high-level official visit to #Taizz #Yemen since April 2017, @OCHAYemen Head of Office examines humanitarian needs firsthand. Humanitarian partners plan to scale up operations to respond to urgent needs of civilian population.

https://twitter.com/OCHAYemen/status/1070356953044533248

(* A H)

U.N. Body Declares Famine Conditions in Parts of Yemen

World Food Program report expected to further erode support in Washington for Saudi bombings in Yemen.

The World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization have officially determined that 73,000 Yemeni civilians in rebel-controlled cities are enduring famine conditions, according to two diplomatic sources.

The figures, which appear in a report to be released Thursday, highlight the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian conditions brought about by a four-year-old conflict that has pitted a U.S.-backed Saudi coalition against a Shiite insurgency led by Houthi separatists who receive some support from Iran. While international aid agencies have long warned of severe hunger in Yemen, a full-blown famine will only be declared if 20 percent of the population of any town or district in the country of 28 million experiences severe hunger.

Eight towns and cities, including Hajj and Taiz, that are controlled by the Houthis have been hardest-hit by what United Nations relief officials believe is the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. But the number fall well short of the 20 percent required for a formal declaration of famine. For instance, more than 32,000 people face famine-like conditions in Hajjah and Taiz, a tiny fraction of the two cities’ combined population of 5.5 million. But more than 3.3 million people there are facing a serious food crisis.

https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/12/05/united-nations-world-food-program-body-declares-famine-conditions-in-parts-of-yemen-conflict-humanitarian-crisis-middle-east-congress-trump-saudi-arabia-mohammed-bin-salman-jamal-khashoggi-pressure-en/

and also https://thehill.com/policy/international/419984-un-to-warn-of-famine-conditions-in-yemen-report

(A H)

OCHA to open two offices in Taiz

The Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Yemen is to open two offices in in al-Mokha and al-Turba of Taiz government

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-25815

(B H)

Joint INGO Statement Welcoming the Upcoming Consultations in Sweden

US Agency for International Development: Yemen - Complex Emergency Fact Sheet #3, Fiscal Year (FY) 2019

On November 28, the USG announced an additional $131 million in USAID/FFPfunded emergency food assistance activities in Yemen.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-complex-emergency-fact-sheet-3-fiscal-year-fy-2019

and map: https://reliefweb.int/map/yemen/yemen-active-usg-programs-yemen-response-last-updated-120418

(* B H)

WFP: 1 Million Yemeni Children at Risk of Death by Starvation

While visiting Yemen two weeks ago, World Food Program Executive Director David Beasley met scores of skeletal children in an overcrowded hospital in the capital, Sana'a.

If we do not reach those million, they will die. We anticipate — I think it is 400,000 would die in the next few months if we do not get immediate access to those children. It is that realistic. It is that stark. It is that horrible."

https://www.voanews.com/a/world-food-program-yemeni-children-at-risk-of-starvation/4686604.html

(A H)

WFP chief says Yemen food survey may not show famine

A food security survey of Yemen due to be issued on Thursday will show an increase in acute hunger but the situation may not meet all the criteria to declare a famine, World Food Programme (WFP) executive director David Beasley said on Tuesday.

The survey, carried out by Yemeni and international experts in October according to an international system for classifying food crises, may show some Yemenis are in a “catastrophic” food situation, but that would not necessarily mean famine, he said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-wfp/wfp-chief-says-yemen-food-survey-may-not-show-famine-idUSKBN1O31KE

My comment: ???????????????????????

(* B H)

U.N. seeks $21.9 billion in aid next year, largest needs in Yemen

The United Nations appealed for $21.9 billion on Tuesday to address 21 humanitarian crises worldwide next year, including $4 billion for Yemen, its largest aid operation.

The appeal to donor countries does not include the funding requirements for Syria, which are expected to bring the total up to $25 billion, it said.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-un-aid/u-n-seeks-21-9-billion-in-aid-next-year-largest-needs-in-yemen-idUSKBN1O30OU

(* B H)

Yemen humanitarian crisis to worsen next year: UN

The humanitarian crisis in Yemen, already the world's worst, will deteriorate in 2019, the UN said Tuesday, warning that the number of people needing food aid is set to jump by four million.

The grim forecast for the embattled country came as the United Nations humanitarian office OCHA released its projected needs assessments for next year.

"The country with the biggest problem in 2019 is going to be Yemen," OCHA chief Mark Lowcock told reporters in Geneva.

He said that in 2017, the UN was providing food assistance to three million people a month.

That figure rose to eight million per month this year and is expected to hit 12 million in 2019, Lowcock added.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6458359/Yemen-humanitarian-crisis-worsen-year-UN.html

(B H)

Film (Arabic): Spent 3 hours walking with his child to the health center and returned by a dead body .. Hunger kidnaps the spirit of the child Aqeel and kidnapped the lives of other children of Yemen

https://www.facebook.com/AlarabyTelevision/videos/197144751229444/

(B H)

Film: support the charity work of local NGO @monareliefye @monarelief

https://twitter.com/FrancoiseG19/status/1069692899850403845

(A H)

Iranian Red Crescent: IRCS to Prepare Relief Aid to Yemen through UN

Under-Secretary General of International Affairs and International Humanitarian Law of the Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) Davood Bagheri said the Society’s food and medicine supplies would be sent to Yemeni people through the United Nations (UN).

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/ircs-prepare-relief-aid-yemen-through-un

cp4 Flüchtlinge / Refugees

(B H)

UNHCR Yemen Situation: 2018 Funding Update (as of 4 December 2018)

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/unhcr-yemen-situation-2018-funding-update-4-december-2018

(B H)

UNHCR Somalia: Refugees and Asylum-seekers Statistical Report - 30 November 2018

From Yemen: 12,296

https://reliefweb.int/report/somalia/unhcr-somalia-refugees-and-asylum-seekers-statistical-report-30-november-2018

(* B H)

UN: Thousands Of Displaced Live In Harsh conditions In Yemen’s Hajja

United Nations said that thousands of Yemenis displaced in the province of Hodeidah western to the province of Hajjah are living in harsh conditions.

This published in on the twitter by Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on her office account at the Twitter.

As the organisation clarified , “In response to the displacement from the province of Hodeidah (west), we are building 3200 shelters for the displaced in district of Abes in province of Hajjah, 140 kilometers north of Hodeidah.” Added , “Thousands of those fugitives are living in harsh conditions.”

The organization confirmed that more than 6,500 families have fled from Hodeidah to Abes since last June.

http://www.newnewss.net/un-thousands-of-displaced-live-in-harsh-conditions-in-yemens-hajja/

(* B H)

150.000 afrikanische Migranten 2018 im Jemen angekommen

Die Nahrungskrise im Jemen hat sich laut den UN weiter verschärft.

Die Migranten seien auf der Suche nach Arbeit und Sicherheit, erklärte die IOM. Viele von Ihnen seien zu jung, um die Risiken der Migration in den Jemen richtig einzuschätzen. Statt eines besseren Lebens fänden sie Unsicherheit und Gewalt. Etliche Migranten wollen den Angaben nach in andere Länder weiterziehen.

https://www.evangelisch.de/inhalte/153681/04-12-2018/150000-afrikanische-migranten-2018-im-jemen-angekommen

(* B H)

IOM Raises Protection Concerns as 2018 Migrant Arrivals to Yemen Approach 150,000

The International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) forecasts a 50 per cent year-on-year rise over 2017 in migrant arrivals to Yemen – with nearly 150,000 migrants expected to enter the country in 2018. This, despite the ongoing conflict in Yemen and deadly perils along migration routes across the Horn of Africa and the Red Sea.

In July, IOM, together with key UN and NGO partners, launched the Regional Migrant Response Plan for the Horn of Africa and Yemen, a three-year multi-partner strategy to address humanitarian and development needs tailored to this migration corridor.

Located at the cusp of two continents, Yemen historically has been an origin, transit and destination country of migrants. Today, an estimated 92 per cent of its incoming migrants are Ethiopian nationals, with Somalis accounting for the rest. In 2017, an estimated 100,000 migrants reached Yemen.

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/iom-raises-protection-concerns-2018-migrant-arrivals-yemen-approach-150000

and also https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-migrants/yemen-migrant-route-grows-50-percent-surpasses-mediterranean-iom-idUSKBN1O32KM

https://theglobepost.com/2018/12/04/yemen-migrant-arrivals/

(* A H P)

Seeing Yemen From Jeju

Several days ago, I joined an unusual skype call originated by young South Korean founders of “The Hope School.” Located on Jeju Island, the school aims to build a supportive community between island residents and newly arrived Yemenis who seek asylum in South Korea.

Whether to welcome or reject Yemenis seeking asylum in South Korea has been a very difficult question for many who live on Jeju Island.

http://www.eurasiareview.com/04122018-seeing-yemen-from-jeju-oped/ = https://www.opednews.com/articles/Seeing-Yemen-from-Jeju-Isl-by-Kathy-Kelly-Activism_Bombing_Children_Lockheed-181206-226.html = https://www.counterpunch.org/2018/12/06/seeing-yemen-from-jeju/

cp5 Nordjemen und Huthis / Northern Yemen and Houthis

(A P)

The #Iran-backed #Houthi militia has abducted 4 senior #Academics in the province of Hajjah on Wednesday. The prominent professors, who are working in Hajjah University, were taken to an unidentified destination, according to official sources.

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1070448362128846853

(B P)

Ongoing tragedies #Yemen: body of TV presenter Jamlia Jamil has been in mortuary for 3 years, her friend said Wednesday. She died in mysterious circumstances in Sanaa in Dec 2015. Though reports at the time said she had been murdered, investigators haven't done enough on the case

https://twitter.com/FuadRajeh/status/1070500220033777665

(A P)

Parliament begins its sessions next Saturday

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517745.htm

(A K P)

Coalition escalates attacks ahead of UN-sponsored Yemen's peace talks: Spokesman

Saudi-led aggression coalition on Tuesday escalated ground and air attacks on Yemen ahead of the UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden, army spokesman Yahya Sarie said here in a press conference

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517691.htm

(A P)

Political Council appreciates UN, Kuwait role in facilitating national delegation travel to Sweden

The Supreme Political Council on Tuesday expressed its gratitude for the efforts made by UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, and the State of Kuwait to facilitate the travel of the national negotiating delegation to Sweden.

http://www.sabanews.net/en/news517695.htm

(A P)

#Sanaa: Head of the National Committee for Prisoners Affairs: We have been informed by the Office of the United Nations envoy that the representative of the coalition of aggression signed the agreement between us and them on the file of prisoners, which we signed on 15/11/2018, and we received a copy of the agreement signed. We hope that are going implementation phase of the agreement smoothly and without obstacles to end this humanitarian file (photo)

https://www.facebook.com/LivingInYemenOnTheEdge/photos/a.963391330380564/2034315596621460/

https://english.almasirah.net/details.php?es_id=4132&cat_id=1

(B P)

Photo: This isn't a #wedding caravan, It is a convoy of the dead bodies of those pushed by #Houthi militia to fight in a battle they have nothing to do with.

https://twitter.com/RepYemenEnglish/status/1069692062998634497

Remark: Interesting photo combined with an anti-Houthi propaganda text.

cp6 Südjemen und Hadi-Regierung / Southern Yemen and Hadi-government

(A P)

Leader in Aden resistance accuses the UAE of Assassinating Sheikh “Rawi”

A leader in Aden public resistance in the interim capital of Aden has revealed the names of the suspects in the assassination of prominent field commanders and political resistance in the city of Aden, Sheikh Rawi Al-‘ariqi at the beginning of 2016.

Adel Al-Hasani a leader in Aden resistance, detained in UAE prisons and released after pressure, revealed details that came on by Emirati orders and Vice President of what's called «Southern Transitional Council» Hani bin Berik.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161827

(* B P)

In ancient Yemeni city, violence turns inward

The Saudi-led coalition waging war in Yemen has armed and financed local militias, including some with alleged links to Islamic extremists, that are now turning on one another in a competition for territory, wealth and control over the country's future.

This internecine fight is aggravating a humanitarian crisis now considered the most dire in the world and clouding the prospects for peace in this crippled country.

The violent saga unfolding here in Taiz, the country's third-largest city, reveals how the wartime decisions made by Saudi Arabia - and its de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - are threatening to fuel turmoil in Yemen for years if not decades to come.

"We thought, 'Thank God they have gotten rid of the Houthis,' " said Abdul Karim Qasim, 38, who lives on a street lined with hollowed-out buildings and bullet-pocked houses. "But unfortunately, they have started fighting each other."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/world/wp/2018/12/06/feature/the-merchants-of-despair/ = https://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/in-embattled-yemeni-city-militia-violence-turns-inward-1.559539 = https://www.sfgate.com/news/article/In-embattled-Yemeni-city-militia-violence-turns-13447163.php

(* B P)

The UAE and Yemen’s Islah: A Coalition Coalesces

To jumpstart the moribund peace process and ensure Emirati influence in postwar Yemen, Abu Dhabi seems willing to swallow its distaste for certain Islamist parties, at least for now.

MbZ’s outreach to Islah may seem surprising given his longstanding antipathy toward the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) and its regional variants. For more than two decades, Emirati authorities cracked down on their own country’s main Islamist party, also called al-Islah, in an effort to cleanse the UAE of MB influence.

The theory driving this approach was seemingly simple—in Abu Dhabi’s view, the MB is a transnational organization that woos adherents away from their national loyalties and provides the ideological underpinnings for the world’s most violent Islamist movements. Yet the regional applications of the MB model have been more complicated in practice. This is especially true with Yemen’s version of Islah, a diverse coalition of groups that includes a local MB branch but also northern tribesmen, conservative businessmen, and Salafi Muslims.

As the Yemen war progressed after 2015, Riyadh and Abu Dhabi found themselves diverging on key issues and relationships

More recently, however, the UAE has pursued an incremental and very public strategy to develop relationships with a full range of Yemeni political actors, particularly in the south. As such, it has been carefully positioning itself to play an outsize role there after the war regardless of the future government’s political makeup, while still maintaining strategic ambiguity on controversial topics such as southern secession. MbZ’s public meeting with Islah leaders is the latest and arguably most important step in this strategy. Yet his gradual pivot has come with one crucial condition: that Islah publicly sunder its ties to the MB.

In the longer term, though, Islah will be hard-pressed to survive without its religious base, which has largely come from its MB wing. Like MbZ, Yadoumi is seemingly trying to thread the needle. His statements consistently note that Islah is not connected to the international MB, but his careful wording likewise avoids disassociating the party from any MB-like elements inside Yemen.

https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/the-uae-and-yemens-islah-a-coalition-coalesces

(A P)

UAE-backed elite forces arrest two mosque imams in Hadramawt

The Emirati-backed Hadrami elite forces arrested two of the most prominent imams of mosques in the Directorate of “Yab’ath: " west of al-Mukalla in Hadramawt.

The two arrested sheiks are widely present through their practice of educational roles and advocacy, charitable and social work in their area.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161796

(A P)

Mothers protest in Aden for releasing enforced disappeared

The Abductees’ Mothers Association (AMA) on Wednesday staged a protest in front of the Interior Minister’s residence in Aden, demanding to release their sons.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-25846

and

(* A P)

Assault on Al-Mukalla detainees and a strike at Bir Ahmed Prison

The Association of Abductees Mothers said that security forces in Al-Mukalla prison, last night attacked the detainees with live ammunition, injuring a number of them.

This came in a statement issued by the association during a vigil organized by mothers and relatives of detainees and forcibly hidden, Wednesday morning, in front of the home of Interior Minister Ahmed al-Mayseri in Aden.

The statement, obtained by Al-Masdar online, said that the attack on the detainees took place during their peaceful sit-in in prison to demand their release or to be brought to a fair trial.

In another context, mothers and residents of the Bir Ahmed prison in Aden said that their children in prison had declared their fourth hunger strike

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161794

(A T)

The Owl Down in Aden

According to accurate intel, one of the most dangerous terrorists of Al-Qaeda was killed in Aden.

https://en.smanews.org/the-owl-down-in-aden

(A P)

Press Release of the Meeting of the Administrative Commission of the Southern National Assembly

The meeting also discussed the corruption in economic and services associations of the south, especially electricity, concerning oil extracts purchases, maintenance and other issues. The meeting also discussed the massive numbers of money robbed by corrupts.

https://en.smanews.org/press-release-of-the-meeting-of-the-administrative-commission-of-the-southern-national-assembly

Remark: Southern separatists objecting corruption to the Hadi government.

(A T)

Two civilians killed and five wounded in clashes in Taiz

Two civilians were killed, and five others injured when an improvised explosive device (IED) exploded on Tuesday evening in the southwestern city of Taiz.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161777

(A P)

Government forces arrest the journalist bin Makhashen from his home in Mukalla

Local sources told us "AL-Masdar Online" that a military force stormed the house of journalist bin Makhashen in the city of Mukalla and took him to an unknown destination

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161750

(A P)

Military forces hold oil shipment from Saudi grant heading toward Shabwah

A government military checkpoint in al-‘Aber area west of al-Mukalla, the center of Hadramawt Province, held a truck carrying fuel from the Saudi grant inaugurated by Saudi Ambassador Mohammed Al Jaber.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161761

(A P)

The General People’s Congress party marked the first anniversary of the assassination of former Yemeni President PERSONAli Abdullah SalehALI ABDULLAH SALEH UNIFIED NORTHERN AND SOUTHERN YEMEN IN 19...Ali Abdullah Saleh in a rally in al Khawkhah district, southern al Hudaydah governorate, western Yemen on December 4. Brigadier General Tariq Abdullah Saleh attended the rally.[3]

https://www.criticalthreats.org/briefs/gulf-of-aden-security-review/gulf-of-aden-security-review-december-4-2018

(A P)

Yemen intends to ban arms in Aden, other liberated areas

Yemen cabinet has discussed the ban of arms bearing in the temporary capital, Aden, and other liberated areas, the Yemeni News Agency (Saba) said.

This plan comes after a wave of assassinations terrifyingly plagued South Yemen during past months.

https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-25768

My comment: The Hadi government has no power at all to achieve this.

(A P)

President Al-Zubaidi Delivers a Speech on the Occasion of the 51st Anniversary of National Independence Day

President Aidarous Kassem Abd Al-Aziz Al-Zubaidi, president of the Southern Transitional Council, delivered a speech on the occasion of the 51st anniversary of national Independence Day. The following is a translation of the speech:

Dear Southern People, fellow fighters for freedom and independence, southern citizens inside and outside the south

https://en.smanews.org/president-al-zubaidi-delivers-a-speech-on-the-occasion-of-the-51st-anniversary-of-national-independence-day

My comment: Separatists’ leaders behaving like a government.

(AT)

As Part of the Iron Fist Campaign, Hadhramaut Elites Arrest a Terrorist Cell in Yabaath, West of Al-Makla

https://en.smanews.org/as-part-of-the-iron-fist-campaign-hadhramaut-elites-arrest-a-terrorist-cell-in-yabaath-west-of-al-makla

My comment: Separatists propagate their militia as anti-terror fighters.

cp7 UNO und Friedensgespräche / UN and peace talks

[Deutsch oben / On top: In German]

(* A P)

Jemen-Friedensgespräche beginnen mit Forderungen und Drohungen

Jemenitische Rebellen und Regierung haben in Schweden die Verhandlungen aufgenommen. Die Fronten sind verhärtet. Dennoch besteht Hoffnung.

Zwischen Hoffen und Bangen haben am Donnerstag die Friedensverhandlungen für den Jemen begonnen. "Während der kommenden Tage werden wir eine einzigartige Gelegenheit haben, den Friedensprozess nach vorne zu bringen", sagte der UN-Sondergesandte für das Bürgerkriegsland, Martin Griffiths, im Beisein der Delegierten beider Kriegsparteien. Vertreter der Regierung und der Huthi-Rebellen kamen in Schweden zu den ersten Verhandlungen seit zwei Jahren zusammen.

UN-Generalsekretär António Guterres rief parallel alle Beteiligten der Friedensgespräche zu Flexibilität, gutem Willen und den Verzicht auf Vorbedingungen auf

Zum Beginn des Treffens im Ort Rimbo nördlich von Stockholm lobte Griffiths die Zeichen der Deeskalation beider Seiten. "Während der kommenden Tage werden wir eine einzigartige Gelegenheit haben, den Friedensprozess nach vorne zu bringen", sagte er im Beisein der Delegierten beider Kriegsparteien. "Ich will mich nicht zu zuversichtlich zeigen, aber ich will ambitioniert sein", sagte er.

Noch handle es sich aber nicht um weitreichende Friedensverhandlungen, sondern lediglich um "Beratungen", betonte Griffiths. Diese zielten nach vier Jahren Krieg darauf ab, "Vertrauen aufzubauen". Zudem solle die Gewalt im Jemen eingedämmt werden.

Wenige Stunden vor Beginn der Gespräche war nochmals deutlich geworden, wie verfahren die Lage im Jemen derzeit ist.

Al-Huthi forderte eine Öffnung des Flughafens für das gesamte jemenitische Volk. Andernfalls müssten auch Vertreter der Vereinten Nationen einen 15-stündigen Weg auf sich nehmen, um nach Sanaa zu gelangen.

Jemens Außenministerium forderte dagegen auf Twitter einen vollständigen Rückzug der Rebellen von der Westküste des Landes.

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/stockholm-jemen-friedensgespraeche-beginnen-mit-forderungen-und-drohungen/23727072.html

und auch https://www.zeit.de/news/2018-12/06/jemen-gespraeche-starten-mit-hoffnung-und-bangen-181206-99-107731

Filme, Tagesschau: http://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-480045.html

https://www.tagesschau.de/multimedia/video/video-479905.html

(* A P)

Friedensgespräche für den Jemen-5.000 Gefangene sollen freikommen

Bei den unter UN-Vermittlung gestarteten Friedensgesprächen für den Jemen haben sich die Bürgerkriegsparteien auf die Freilassung Tausender Gefangener verständigt. Laut dem Internationalen Komitee vom Roten Kreuz sollen mindestens 5.000 Gefangene freikommen.

https://www.zdf.de/nachrichten/heute/friedensgespraeche-fuer-den-jemen-5-0000-gefangene-sollen-freikommen-100.html

(* A B P)

Jemenitischer Machtpoker

„Nimmt man die Vergangenheit und die Lage vor Ort als Maßstab, deutet alles darauf hin, dass bei den Gesprächen nicht viel herauskommt und die Kämpfe um Hodeida wieder aufflammen“, warnte Peter Salisbury von der „International Crisis Group“, der als einer der besten Kenner Jemens gilt. „Leider muss man sagen, die gegenwärtige Dynamik deutet eher darauf hin, dass die Gewalt weitergeht, und sich die humanitäre Lage verschlimmert, als dass es zum Frieden kommt.“

Zudem gewinnt im jemenitischen Machtpoker neben den Huthis und der international anerkannten Hadi-Regierung eine dritte Kraft zunehmend an Bedeutung, die Südbewegung Hirak, die von den Vereinigten Arabischen Emiraten (VAE) massiv gesponsert wird. Diese will den Jemen wieder teilen, wie vor 1990, was sowohl die Huthis als auch Saudi-Arabien ablehnen.

Umso unverblümter arbeitet Abu Dhabi daher auf einen gespaltenen Jemen hin, eine Lösung, für die offenbar auch das Pentagon Sympathien hegt.

http://www.fr.de/politik/jemen-jemenitischer-machtpoker-a-1633252

(A P)

Wenig Grund für Optimismus für den Jemen

Dennoch sind die Erfolgsaussichten der Gespräche zwischen Regierung und Rebellen, die in Schweden begonnen haben, nicht gut. Es ist zwar wahrscheinlich, dass beide Seiten vertrauensbildende Maßnahmen beschließen, wie den zum Auftakt verkündeten Gefangenenaustausch; diese Maßnahmen könnten im besten Fall dazu führen, dass die Gewalt weniger wird und dass die Not und das Leiden der Menschen gelindert werden. Doch zu Verhandlungen über eine politische Lösung des Konflikts scheinen beide Seiten nicht bereit zu sein, noch nicht.

Beide Seiten glauben also, bei einem Kompromiss viel verlieren, aber wenig gewinnen zu können. Regierung und Aufständische gleichermaßen kalkulieren darauf, dass die Zeit auf ihrer jeweiligen Seite ist, dass ihre Verhandlungspositionen morgen besser sein werden als heute.

Angesichts dieser negativen Dynamik wird es der UN-Vermittler äußerst schwer haben.

https://www.ndr.de/info/sendungen/kommentare/Wenig-Grund-fuer-Optimismus-fuer-Jemen,jemen216.html

Mein Kommentar: Wenig Tiefgang. Und in teherean entscheided sich weniger als noch in London.

(* A P)

Friedensgespräche für den Jemen starten Donnerstag

Die mit Spannung erwarteten Friedensgespräche für den Jemen beginnen an diesem Donnerstag. Der politische Prozess zwischen den jemenitischen Parteien solle dann in Schweden neu gestartet werden, twitterte UN-Vermittler Martin Griffiths am Mittwoch. Auch das schwedische Außenministerium bestätigte den Beginn der Konferenz am Donnerstag. Bereits zuvor waren die Delegationen der international anerkannten Regierung und der schiitischen Huthi-Rebellen in Stockholm eingetroffen.

https://www.tagesspiegel.de/politik/vereinte-nationen-friedensgespraeche-fuer-den-jemen-starten-donnerstag/23723768.html

weitere. https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/gespraeche-ueber-frieden-im-jemen-beginnen-in-schweden-15926798.html

(* A B P)

Neuer Friedensversuch für Jemen startet

In Schweden treffen Vertreter der jemenitischen Regierung und der Huthi-Rebellen ein. Ab diesem Donnerstag wollen sie darüber sprechen, wie der Jemen-Krieg beendet werden kann. Zwar machen die Gespräche Hoffnung, ein Durchbruch wäre aber überraschend.

In Stockholm wird es Beobachtern zufolge auch erst einmal darum gehen, Vertrauen zwischen den Delegationen zu schaffen, nachdem diese jahrelang nicht mehr von Angesicht zu Angesicht miteinander geredet hatten. Ein Durchbruch in Stockholm ist Beobachtern zufolge zwar nicht außer Reichweite, gerechnet werden könne damit aber nicht.

https://www.n-tv.de/politik/Neuer-Friedensversuch-fuer-Jemen-startet-article20757156.html

https://www.faz.net/aktuell/politik/ausland/jemen-gespraeche-in-schweden-am-abgrund-15926669.html

(* B K P)

Gespräche in Stockholm: Dritter Anlauf für Frieden im Jemen

In Stockholm startet der dritte Versuch. Längst geht es um die Zukunft einer ganzen Region.

"Wir stehen Gewehr bei Fuß bereit für Verhandlungen", sagt Hmeed Aasem, ein Vertreter der Huthi-Rebellen. "Wir strecken die Hand zum Frieden aus. Wenn sie ihn wollen, können sie ihn haben. Wollen sie Krieg, bekommen sie ihn auch. Die vergangenen vier Jahre sollten klar gemacht haben, dass sie uns nicht besiegen können."

https://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/friedensverhandlungen-jemen-101.html

Mein Kommentar: In Sachen Iran wird hier saudische und US-Propaganda nachgeplappert.

und auch: https://www.dw.com/de/vage-hoffnung-für-den-jemen/a-46605749 = https://www.msn.com/de-de/nachrichten/politik/vage-hoffnung-f%C3%BCr-den-jemen/ar-BBQxHdZ?ocid=sf

(A P)

Film: Friedensgespräche im Jemen-Konflikt: Huthi-Delegierte erreichen Stockholm

Die Hoffnungen sind groß, dass der verheerende Bürgerkrieg im Land durch die Gespräche beendet werden kann.

Mina Luqman, Vorsitzende der Stiftung Food4humanity, sagte:

"Die vertrauensbildende Maßnahme, auf die wir zumindest im Moment setzen, ist eine Wiedereröffnung des internationalen Flughafens Sanaa. Das ist sehr wichtig. Andere wichtige Maßnahmen sind außerdem ein Waffenstillstand und die Öffnung der humanitären Korridore in Taiz."

https://de.euronews.com/2018/12/05/friedensgesprache-im-jemen-konflikt-huthi-delegierte-erreichen-stockholm = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z4j2V466Ajo

(A P)

Vereinigte Arabische Emirate sehen Jemen-Gespräche als "entscheidende Chance"

Die Regierung der Vereinigten Arabischen Emirate sieht die in Schweden geplanten Jemen-Gespräche unter Vermittlung der UNO als "entscheidende Chance" für die Beilegung des bewaffneten Konflikts.

http://www.dtoday.de/startseite/politik_artikel,-Vereinigte-Arabische-Emirate-sehen-Jemen-Gespraeche-als-entscheidende-Chance-_arid,638558.html

Mein Kommentar: Das ist Heuchelei. Mit der Offensive ihrer Hilfstruppen gegen Hodeidah heizen die Emirate den Krieg an. Die Jemen-Gespräche halten die Emirate nur für relevant, soweit sie ihnen (auf politischem Weg) militärische Vorteile auf dem Kriegsschauplatz (in Hodeidah) bringen.

(* A B P)

Jemen-Friedensgespräche sollen in Stockholm beginnen

Huthi-Sprecher Mohammed Abdul Salam sagte: "Unsere Hände sind zum Frieden ausgestreckt." Man wolle die Konsultationen mit der international anerkannten jemenitischen Regierung zu einem Erfolg führen. Dem schwedischen Sender SVTzufolge flogen die Rebellen mit einem Flugzeug von Kuwait aus. Das Land vermittelt in dem Konflikt. An Bord der Maschine habe sich zusammen mit den Rebellen auch ein schwedischer Diplomat und der kuwaitische Botschafter im Jemen befunden.

Die Hoffnungen auf einen Durchbruch sind nach einer Reihe von Entspannungssignalen dieses Mal größer als bei anderen Jemen-Treffen in der Vergangenheit.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/stockholm-krieg-im-jemen-huthi-rebellen-zu-friedensgespraechen-eingetroffen-a-1241998.html = https://www.zeit.de/politik/ausland/2018-12/jemen-vereinte-nationen-verletzte-rebellen-ausgeflogen

(A P)

USA für Ende der Gewalt im Jemen

Vor Friedensgesprächen in Stockholm zum Bürgerkrieg im Jemen haben die USA die Konfliktparteien zu einem sofortigen Ende der Gewalt aufgerufen. "Die Menschen im Jemen haben viel zu lange gelitten", teilte US-Außenamtssprecherin Heather Nauert mit.

https://www.wienerzeitung.at/nachrichten/welt/weltpolitik/1006266_USA-rufen-Konfliktparteien-im-Jemen-zu-Ende-der-Gewalt-auf.html

Mein Kommentar: der Aufruf der USA ist Heuchelei im Doppelpack. Doe USA haben den saudischen Krieg im jemen erst möglich gemacht. Und noch zuletzt haben sie eine neue UN-Resolution, die zu einem sofortigen Waffenstillstand in Hodeidah aufrief, blockiert.

(* A P)

UNO-Sondergesandter und Huthis verlassen Sanaa

Eine Delegation der Huthi-Rebellen hat offenbar den Jemen in Richtung Schweden verlassen, um dort mit der Regierung des Bürgerkriegslandes Friedensgespräche aufzunehmen.

Die Widerstandskämpfer sollen sich in Begleitung des UNO-Sondergesandten Griffiths befinden.

https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/jemen-uno-sondergesandter-und-huthis-verlassen-sanaa.2932.de.html?drn:news_id=952681

(* A P)

Einigung auf Austausch hunderter Gefangener im Jemen

Im Jemen haben sich Regierung und Rebellen vor den geplanten Friedensgesprächen in Schweden auf den Austausch hunderter Gefangener geeinigt. Wie der Gefangenen-Beauftragte der jemenitischen Regierung, Hadi Haig, am Dienstag der Nachrichtenagentur AFP sagte, geht es um 1.500 bis 2.000 Kämpfer der Regierungstruppen und 1.000 bis 1.500 Kämpfer der Huthi-Rebellen. Das Internationale Komitee vom Roten Kreuz (IKRK) begrüßte die Einigung.

https://derstandard.at/2000093102518/Einigung-auf-Gefangenenaustausch-im-Jemen

(* A P)

Verletzte Huthi-Rebellen ausgeflogen

Die Vereinten Nationen haben etwa 50 verletzte Huthi-Kämpfer ins Nachbarland Oman gebracht. Deren medizinische Versorgung gilt als Voraussetzung für das Gelingen der Friedensgespräche.

Die Vereinten Nationen haben am Montag etwa 50 verletzte Rebellen aus dem Bürgerkriegsland Jemen ausgeflogen. Die Huthi-Kämpfer verließen am Nachmittag den Flughafen der von ihnen kontrollierten Hauptstadt Sanaa in einem von der Uno gecharterten Flugzeug. Das teilten Flughafenmitarbeiter und Uno-Vertreter mit. Ziel des Fluges war Maskat, die Hauptstadt des Nachbarlands Oman, wo die Rebellen medizinisch behandelt werden sollen.

An Bord des Flugzeugs nach Oman befanden sich 50 verletzte Rebellen, ihre Begleitung sowie mehrere Ärzte. Der Sprecher der von Saudi-Arabien geführten Militärkoalition im Jemen, Turki al-Maliki, sprach von einer "vertrauensbildenden Maßnahme" vor geplanten Friedensgesprächen in Schweden.

http://www.spiegel.de/politik/ausland/jemen-uno-laesst-huthi-rebellen-ausfliegen-a-1241765.html

(A P)

Internationale NGOs, die im Jemen tätig sind, begrüßen die Friedensverhandlungen, die derzeit in Schweden stattfinden.

https://www.aerztederwelt.org/unsere-projekte/naher-osten/jemen/internationale-ngos-begruessen-friedensgespraeche-fuer-den-jemen

(A P)

Yemen’s government urges UN to take a firmer approach with Houthis

Yemen’s government is urging the UN to take a firmer approach in dealing with Houthi rebels as peace talks are expected to continue in Sweden on Friday, an adviser to President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi told the National.

Mohammed Mousa Al Amiri said on Thursday that UN Envoy Martin Griffiths must be “realistic” when negotiating with the rebels, who he claims are “taking advantage” of UN-backed talks to deepen the country’s humanitarian crisis.

“A big part of the problem here, and we have spoken about this with the UN envoy, is that we want the mediator to be realistic with the Houthis, to tell them that they are in the wrong and are violating international laws,” Mr Al Amiri said, explaining that he believes that such a confrontation is the only way to reach a peaceful settlement.

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/yemen-s-government-urges-un-to-take-a-firmer-approach-with-houthis-1.800069

My comment: This really is a bullshit statement: “We are the good guys and they are the bad guys”.

(* A P)

The Latest: Red Cross to oversee Yemen prisoner exchange

1:55 p.m.

The international Red Cross says it will oversee the implementation of an agreement between Yemen's warring sides to carry out a prisoner exchange, hailing it as "one of the first positive steps for Yemen" as peace talks got under way in Sweden.

Fabrizio Carboni, regional director for the Near and Middle East at the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross, said the group "has been asked to play its role as a neutral intermediary and provide technical support."

11:40 a.m.

The U.N. envoy for Yemen says the country's warring sides have agreed on a prisoner exchange as part of confidence building measures for the war-torn nation.

Martin Griffiths spoke at the opening of Yemen peace talks in Sweden on Thursday.

11:20 a.m.

Sweden's foreign minister has opened the U.N.-sponsored Yemen peace talks

https://www.businessinsider.de/ap-the-latest-yemens-warring-sides-agree-on-prisoner-exchange-2018-12?r=UK&IR=T = https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-6466489/The-Latest-World-Food-Program-stepping-aid-Yemen.html

and also https://www.dw.com/en/yemen-peace-talks-underway-in-sweden/a-46607074

photo: https://twitter.com/HMAMichaelAron/status/1070629807367602178

(* A P)

Red Cross says it is ready to play role in Yemeni prisoner swap

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Thursday it was ready to play a role in the Yemeni prisoner swap and voiced hope that the deal between the warring sides would build confidence for a political solution to end the war.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security-redcross/red-cross-says-it-is-ready-to-play-role-in-yemeni-prisoner-swap-idUSKBN1O51AI

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/yemen-agreement-release-transfer-and-repatriate-detainees-relation-conflict

(A B P)

Film: Humanitarians can’t fix Yemen crisis, only politicians can, Red Cross head tells RT

Yemen’s disastrous humanitarian situation cannot be fixed by aid organizations as long as there is no political solution for the armed conflict there, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross told RT.

Speaking during a visit to Moscow, Peter Maurer said he and other people providing relief for those living in conflict zones are hopeful that this week’s negotiations in Sweden would bring progress in curbing violence in the Arab country.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgIRyAIrcA4

(A B P)

Aid, peace still not enough to save Yemenis from hunger: WFP

WFP hopes that the warring parties will successfully negotiate an end to this conflict, which is the only way to solve what has become the largest hunger crisis in the world," WFP spokesman Herve Verhoosel said.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6468579/Aid-peace-not-save-Yemenis-hunger-WFP.html

(* A P)

Yemen peace talks start in Sweden with prisoner swap deal

Representatives from Yemen’s warring sides sat in the same room for the first time in years on Thursday in Sweden as U.N.-sponsored peace talks aimed at halting a catastrophic three-year war opened to great hopes but also high skepticism.

In a positive sign, the U.N. envoy said the sides had agreed on a prisoner exchange as a first step toward building confidence.

Martin Griffiths also said the two sides have signaled they were serious about de-escalating the fighting through calls they’ve made in recent weeks, and urged them to work to further reduce the violence in the Arab world’s poorest nation, scene of massive civilians suffering.

The talks in the Swedish town of Rimbo, north of Stockholm, aim to setup “a framework for negotiations” on a future peace agreement, Griffiths said, calling the coming days were a milestone nonetheless and urging the parties “to work in good faith ... to deliver a message of peace.”

“I’m also pleased to announce the signing of an agreement on the exchange of prisoners, detainees, the missing, the forcibly detained and individuals placed under house arrest,” Griffiths said from the venue. “It will allow thousands of families to be reunited, and it is product of very effective, active work from both delegations.”

https://apnews.com/1f0be5d544524f9b963869736e906826

Remark: The deal had already been signed earlier by both sides.

(* A P)

Yemen Peace Talks Begin With Agreement to Free 5,000 Prisoners

Also on the table is a proposal to reopen the airport in the capital, Sana, which has been under a Saudi blockade since 2015 — one of several punishing measures that have fueled what the United Nations calls the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

But hopes for the talks, which are taking place in a renovated castle north of Stockholm, are fragile. Numerous efforts to forge a cease-fire have crumbled, mostly recently in September, when a Houthi delegation failed to turn up in Geneva. Analysts have warned that another failure could set off even more intense fighting.

This time, however, the negotiations are being driven by a greater sense of international urgency.

It will be a delicate process. Initially, the rival delegations in Sweden will have no direct contact. Diplomats will shuttle between them in an effort to build common ground. Mr. Griffiths, the United Nations envoy, has said that the talks can succeed only if both sides “suspend their belief in the possibility of a military victory.”

Whether that is possible remains highly uncertain.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/world/middleeast/yemen-peace-talks.html

(A P)

Was asked an excellent question on @dwnews: some #Yemen parties are making threats, setting conditions, etc. ahead of talks, could that derail current process. My answer was, not really at this stage of basic creation of a framework, besides, usual chest drumming expected.

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/1070652373666816000

(A P)

Special Envoy's Opening Remarks at Peace Consultations for Yemen, 6 December 2018

https://osesgy.unmissions.org/special-envoys-opening-remarks-peace-consultations-yemen

(A B P)

New UN-Backed Yemen Peace Talks Begin in Sweden

Zubair Iqbal, a scholar at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, tells VOA that Saudi Arabia has been pushed back to the negotiating table due to a push in the U.S. Senate to cut off aid to Riyadh in response to Khashoggi's murder.

Iqbal says the talks in Sweden could serve as a starting point to "build some degree of confidence between the two opposing parties, so they can go back and talk to their supporters and work out something that may allow for some compromise down the road."

https://www.voanews.com/a/new-un-backed-yemen-peace-talks-begin-in-sweden/4689111.html

(* A P)

Cautious optimism reigns over Yemen peace talks

Talks in Sweden are one step towards a political solution, but analysts and diplomats say they don't expect a breakthrough

A window of opportunity for peace in Yemen seems to have opened as warring parties on Thursday entered the first round of UN-backed peace talks since the start of the civil war in 2015, but diplomats and analysts say they don't expect any major breakthrough.

UN Envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, said he believes that peace can be achieved in the war-torn country but said that “he does not want to be overly optimistic," in the short-term.

"During the coming days we will have a critical opportunity to give momentum to the peace process," Griffiths told reporters as the rival delegations gathered in Sweden. But the UN envoy stressed that current talks are only "consultations."

"We are not yet beginning the process of negotiations," he said, managing expectations of what could result from such talks.

Considering that Yemen's peace process has been stalled for years, the fact that rival parties even showed up for talks is widely seen as a small victory, especially after Houthi rebels failed to attend a previous round of meetings in Geneva last September (with film)

https://www.thenational.ae/world/mena/cautious-optimism-reigns-over-yemen-peace-talks-1.800061

(A P)

Film: The two Yemen delegations in Sweden, led by Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani and Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdel Salam

https://twitter.com/SuneEngel/status/1070625352358223872

(* A B P)

Yemen war rivals lash out as UN talks start

Yemen's government and rebels doubled down on their rival demands Thursday, just moments before hard-won consultations opened in Sweden under the auspices of the United Nations.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani, who heads the Saudi-backed government's delegation to the UN-sponsored talks in Sweden, told AFP his team would follow through with a planned prisoner swap with the Huthi rebels -- but refused to compromise on the flashpoint port city of Hodeida, home to Yemen's most valuable port.

"The Huthi militias must withdraw from the city of Hodeida, and its port, and hand it over to the legitimate government, and specifically internal security forces," Yamani said.

The head of the Huthi rebels' political council threatened Thursday to bar UN planes from using the Yemeni capital's airport unless the peace negotiations lead to its full reopening.

Sanaa international airport, located in the rebel-held capital, has been largely shut down for years.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/yemen-war-rivals-lash-out-talks-start-doc-1bd8oq2 = https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6466785/Yemen-rivals-lash-ahead-peace-talks.html

and

(A P)

UN chief urges Yemen sides to hold talks without pre-conditions

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday called on Yemen's warring sides to engage in UN-brokered talks without imposing pre-conditions afer the government and rebels put forward demands.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6468601/UN-chief-urges-Yemen-sides-hold-talks-without-pre-conditions.html

(A P)

Head of the Yemeni delegation : we are adhered to resolution 2216 and handing Hodeidah port

The Yemeni foreign minister and the head of Yemeni Government delegation in Sweden consultations Khalid al-Yamani said on Thursday, the Government stresses the need to implement Security Council resolution number 2216, handing over the port of Hodeidah to the Government.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161825

My comment: “Yemeni delegation”: hadi government. Strange wording, the Houthi delegation is coming from which country? – The hadi government’s main (or single) goal indeed is to be strengthened in its faked “legitimacy”.

(* A B P)

Renewed Hope for Peace in Yemen

Representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthi movement are sitting down to talk in Sweden and offering us hope for restarting the peace process in their country.

On Thursday, for the first time in two years, the government of Yemen will sit down with Ansar Allah, who are commonly referred to as the Houthis, in Sweden. It took many false starts and missed opportunities before the opposing sides agreed to come together and offered us a glimmer of hope to restart a peace process in Yemen. It is an important beginning to see warring parties sit together and talk — a conversation that requires both sides to suspend their belief in the possibility of a military victory.

Over the past eight months, in my capacity as the United Nations mediator in this conflict, I have repeatedly warned that it is war that takes peace off the table. Peace has stronger prospects today, and it is time to push forward initiatives to put out the flames of the fighting.

The Red Sea port of Al Hudaydah, and the so-named city, has been a major flash point in this war.

I believe that this week’s meeting in Sweden can bring good news for Al Hudaydah, and for the people of Yemen. We have been working to reach a negotiated agreement to spare both the city and port the threat of destruction, and guarantee the full operation of the port. Reaching such a deal will not only put an end to the battles but also save the main humanitarian pipeline for the people of Yemen from being obstructed or destroyed. This will help ensure that the looming specter of famine is chased away – by Martin Griffiths, the special envoy of the United Nations secretary general for Yemen

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/opinion/yemen-sweden-famine-peace-talks.html

(* A P)

Yemen rebels and government set for Dec 6 peace talks in Sweden

Peace talks between Yemen's government and rivals aimed at ending four years of devastating war will open on Thursday in Sweden, the UN announced.

No breakthrough is expected at the talks, which mark the first meeting between Yemen's Saudi-backed government and Huthi rebels, linked to Iran, since 2016

https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/yemen-rebels-and-government-set-dec-6-peace-talks-sweden-doc-1bb95k15

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-peace-talks-begin-thursday-sweden-un-confirms-313386996

(A P)

Yemen peace talks set to start on Thursday in Sweden

A U.N. source said the two sides were unlikely to hold direct talks at a renovated castle outside Stockholm and that special envoy Martin Griffiths and his team would shuttle between them for the consultations, the first since 2016.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/yemen-peace-talks-set-to-start-on-thursday-in-sweden-idUSKBN1O40K4

(* A B P)

Yemen war: UN-backed peace talks set to begin in Sweden

A UN team will work alongside delegations from the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels at Johannesbergs castle outside Stockholm to enable informal talks due to last a week.

The latest talks are not expected to deliver a breakthrough. Correspondents say the key aim of this round is to prevent an all-out battle for the rebel-held Red Sea port of Hudaydah where thousands of civilians are trapped.

The UN also hopes to come up with a framework for talks on what a future political solution in Yemen will look like.

Officials said the talks - which are expected to last a week - would be informal, through working groups.

"On some issues it will make sense for the two sides to sit together, on others they will discuss in separate groups," one source told the BBC.

Small steps towards peace

Analysis by BBC Chief Correspondent Lyse Doucet at the talks

So deep is distrust between warring sides that even showing up for talks for the first time in two years is a significant breakthrough and an achievement for UN envoy Martin Griffiths.

Confidence-building measures which made this happen, including a commitment from both sides to release hundreds of prisoners, have been called a "huge step".

Stockholm is about small steps. There won't be talk of ceasefires, even around the key port of Hudaydah, Yemen's lifeline. The language is of de-escalation and restraint.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-46462255

(A P)

British ambassador to Yemen posts video in Arabic giving updates on Stockholm talks

The British ambassador to Yemen posted a video speaking in Arabic and giving updates on the peace talks taking place in Stockholm.

Michael Aron said he will be posting updates during the peace talks between Yemen’s warring sides in an attempt to provide some level of transparency and accountability.

“I believe it is very important for Yemenis to understand what is going on here in the consultations,” Aron said in a video that was posted on the Twitter account of the British embassy in Sanaa.

http://www.arabnews.com/node/1416486/middle-east

referring to

British Ambassador to Yemen: “Stockholm talks - part 1. An Ambassador's Tale

https://twitter.com/HMAMichaelAron/status/1070036717137223680

Referring to film https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=2104557342915973&id=186812134690513

My comment: Never forget that Britain is one of the puppet masters of this war.

(* B K P)

Yemeni port under threat as peace talks begin in Sweden

The UAE, which has driven a military campaign that encircled the port and city, describes the Stockholm meeting as a “last chance” for the Houthis.

If the UAE is not satisfied with the outcome, they threaten to dispatch Yemeni forces poised on the outskirts of Hodeidah to take the port, arguing that this would deprive the Houthis of a critical revenue stream and thus force them to compromise.

This could happen as early as the coming holiday season, when the world is distracted.

To prevent this outcome, one of two things must happen: Either UN envoy Martin Griffiths negotiates a deal under which Hodeidah comes under UN control (something the Houthis have signaled openness to); or Saudi Arabia’s and the UAE’s Western allies pressure them not to launch the offensive.

Despite calling for a cease-fire last month, however, the Trump administration has done nothing to achieve it and instead doubled down on its support for Saudi Arabia.

https://www.axios.com/yemeni-port-under-threat-as-peace-talks-begin-in-sweden-c52eed51-f2b8-4ff3-9c3a-b76045c43ca3.html

(* B P)

Elisabeth Kendall: As the (2 main) warring sides in #Yemen gather in #Sweden for peace talks this week, what can we expect? Here's my analysis for BBC World Service "Newsday" this morning

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1070260256700293120

What are the hopes for peace in #Yemen as talks get underway in #Sweden? Here's my attempt to answer that very briefly for "Inside Story" tonight on Al Jazeera

https://twitter.com/Dr_E_Kendall/status/1070444775642292225

(* B P)

Yemen: Hopes for peace

UN-backed talks may yet make the next anniversary of the Yemen war the last.

UN and Arab diplomats agree that the time is now propitious to push for a settlement of the conflict.

“The Houthis feel weakened by this debilitating war,” said a UN source. “They do not want to alienate their own constituency because of the deteriorating humanitarian situation.”

A Cairo-based Western diplomat echoed the words of other regional and Western diplomats in recent weeks by stressing that the US and the EU are pushing Riyadh and Abu Dhabi to end the war quickly in the face of growing international outrage at the images of famine and disease coming out of devastated Yemen.

An agreement between the two Yemeni sides on the ultimate objective of the talks has yet to be reached. The Hadi regime is hoping for a political settlement under which the Houthis recognise its “legitimacy” while the Houthis are more focused on easing humanitarian conditions.

According to a UN source the top three issues for the Swedish talks — “or at least this first round of talks since nobody is expecting a peace deal to be produced in a week or so” — are: to solve problems at the Central Bank of Yemen which have exacerbated the financial challenges facing the impoverished country; to clear the path for the security and political measures necessary to re-open Sanaa airport; and to secure the frail de-escalation at the port of Hodaidah secured in the last couple of weeks.

The UN believes success in these three areas will represent a significant confidence-building measure that could lead to improvements in the humanitarian situation and at the same time pave the way towards a political framework that can be pursued beyond the current meeting, though the UN source warns “there are no clear indications of how things will go.”

Regional diplomats are no less sceptical. They agree that the future of the talks depends on two things: Riyadh’s realisation that the world will no longer tolerate an open-ended humanitarian disaster in Yemen, and Tehran understanding that international pressure on Riyadh to end the war will stop short of pushing Saudi Arabia to accept a strong Iranian influence in Yemen.

http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/News/26060.aspx

My comment: A quite sound article from Egypt. – Interesting: “The Hadi regime is hoping for a political settlement under which the Houthis recognise its “legitimacy” while the Houthis are more focused on easing humanitarian conditions”.

(* A P)

UN: Yemen war: UN-backed talks to silence the guns due to begin in Stockholm

According to a tweet early on Wednesday from the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, the “restart of the intra-Yemeni political process” is scheduled to begin in the Swedish capital, Stockholm within hours.

Hopes are high that the warring parties in Yemen will begin long-delayed consultations on Thursday over ending the conflict that has ravaged the Middle East nation for over three years, leaving millions of civilians dependent on international assistance.

https://news.un.org/en/story/2018/12/1027801

(* B P)

The Stockholm Sessions

So far, it seems that the first challenge, namely who would attend the talks, has been successfully addressed.

Regionally, there have been some signs of flexibility

The failure of previous talks is a consequence of Yemen’s being caught up in a regional struggle for power

Inside Yemen, the conflict has created new divisions among Yemenis, making a comprehensive solution that much more difficult to achieve.

In addition, there may be another barrier to the success of the talks, namely the real intentions behind what the parties hope to achieve.

While most of Yemenis are looking for a glimmer of hope to end four years of a devastating war, many analysts already view this round of peace talks as just the latest in a series of failed efforts.

https://carnegie-mec.org/diwan/77882

(A P)

Yemen After a Saudi Withdrawal: How Much Would Change?

An end to the Saudi intervention is long overdue—but even if it occurs, don’t expect Yemen’s nightmare to draw to a close. For a change in Saudi policy to have the most impact, it must be coupled with a broader pullout of foreign powers and a ceasefire among Yemen’s many warring factions.

By itself, an end to the Saudi bombing campaign and blockade would be a milestone.

Strategically, a close to the Saudi intervention would also benefit a key U.S. ally in the region—Saudi Arabia.

Yet even if Saudi Arabia comes to its senses or is compelled to do so, an end to the intervention would only be the beginning of what is needed. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) would still be militarily involved in the fighting against the Houthis, and it is a much more active player than Saudi Arabia on the ground in Yemen. Local actors would continue to fight

To improve both the strategic and humanitarian situation, any decrease in the Saudi military campaign must become the impetus for broader measures to end the war and decrease the suffering.

https://www.lawfareblog.com/yemen-after-saudi-withdrawal-how-much-would-change

(* B P)

Yemen: Giving Peace A Chance?

The talks in Sweden are preliminary consultations to set the stage for eventual negotiations. Griffiths hopes that the two sides will agree on some basic confidence-building measures, including prisoner swaps, the reopening of Sanaa airport and perhaps an agreement to stabilize Hodeida, as well as a broad roadmap for future talks.

Has anything happened since September to suggest talks in Sweden will make progress?

What has changed is that, over the past three months, the world has become more aware of the catastrophe unfolding in Yemen and of the need to stop it.

What are the chances of success?

Griffiths might be able to fulfill his limited aim of getting the Houthis and Hadi to agree to confidence-building measures, sign up to a broader framework for negotiations with some tweaks, and schedule substantive peace talks in the near future. But unfortunately, the odds are high that the consultations will break down amid mutual recriminations, as has happened during all previous rounds.

What is the situation around Hodeida today and why is it so critical?

Why are UAE-led forces targeting Hodeida?

The UAE-led campaign for the Red Sea coast, which has been ongoing for almost two years, is an attempt to cut off the Houthis’ access to the sea and to customs revenues from the port. The UAE and Saudi Arabia believe that the loss of territory and a valuable revenue stream will force the rebels to make significant concessions.

What impact might the talks have on Yemen’s humanitarian crisis?

What will be the main sticking points in this new attempt at talks?

The Houthis and the Hadi government will arrive in Sweden looking to advance their respective agendas. Getting them to align on even basic issues is likely to be difficult.

How are the Hadi government and the Huthis currently faring?

Although the Hadi government is presented as a major party to the conflict, in reality its position is relatively weak. Nominally, Hadi oversees a large array of groups, generally described as the National Army and National Resistance; in reality, the groups fighting the Houthis on the ground are deeply divided and often mutually antagonistic.

The Houthis themselves are not in a very strong position – by Peter Salisbury

https://lobelog.com/yemen-giving-peace-a-chance/

(A P)

Al-Awalki to Griffith: No Peace Without Enforcing the Southern Will in Self-Determination

Salem Thabe Al-Awalki, official spokesman of the southern transitional council, sent a clear and significant message to Mr. Martin Griffith, UN Envoy to Yemen, about the significance of the southern cause to support peace process in Yemen.
In a public celebration of the 51st anniversary of National Independence, held in Shabwa, Al-Awalki talked about the efforts of the council during the previous period through meetings with the office of UN Envoy to Yemen and other ambassadors of countries concerned with Yemen.

https://en.smanews.org/al-awalki-to-griffith-no-peace-without-enforcing-the-southern-will-in-self-determination

My comment: Southern separatists had not been invited to the talks.

(* A P)

Yemeni women demand seat at the table as peace talks begin in Stockholm

Yemeni women tell MEE they've been sidelined from peace talks and consultations on Yemen's civil war - and that must change

A coalition of Yemeni women are demanding a seat at the negotiating table as UN-sponsored peace talks to end Yemen's war are scheduled to begin in Sweden.

Pictures released of delegates attending the talks showed only one woman present on the negotiating table from both sides of the civil war, which has been going on for nearly four years.

Kawkab Al-Thaibani, a Yemeni woman who works for the Women for Yemen network, told Middle East Eye that Yemen's women had borne the brunt of the country's war.

"Women in Yemen are paying the highest price of war. I believe that no lasting peace will happen... without women [being involved] in the peace negotiations," Thaibani said this week.

"They're facing hunger, poverty, violence, displacement and being uprooted, among many other issues.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemeni-women-demand-seat-table-peace-talks-begin-stockholm-1916031264

(A P)

YEMEN WAR PEACE TALKS

A Houthi delegation and the UN's special envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in Stockholm on Tuesday for the long awaited negotiations. The UN hopes the negotiations will help bring an end to what it calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. But there are questions about how inclusive they are. Yemeni's have launched an online campaign, using the hashtag #WomenforYemen demanding MORE women take part in the peace negotiations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=hjQlcAuWZGM

(* A P)

Yemen government team heads to Sweden for peace talks

A delegation from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government left for Sweden on Wednesday to attend peace talks with members of the Iran-aligned Houthi group, in a renewed U.N. push to end a war that has brought economic ruin and famine.

One representative of the internationally recognized government, Abdullah al-Alimi, tweeted that the talks were “a true opportunity for peace,” before his team flew out of the Saudi capital Riyadh.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/saudi-backed-yemeni-government-team-heads-to-sweden-for-peace-talks-idUSKBN1O40K4

and see remarkable change of headline (this is the older article: https://www.reuters.com/article/yemen-security/saudi-backed-yemeni-government-team-heads-to-sweden-for-peace-talks-idUSB2N1Y3010

and

(* A P)

Yemen government team heads to crunch peace talks with rebels

A 12-member team from the Saudi-backed government headed by Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani left Riyadh early Wednesday, sources told AFP,

The delegation had delayed its departure until the rebels had arrived in Stockholm after they failed to show up for the last UN bid to convene peace talks in September, complaining they had received insufficient guarantees of safe passage through the blockade enforced by a Saudi-led coalition since March 2015, sources close to the government told AFP.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/yemen-government-team-heads-crunch-peace-talks-rebels-doc-1bb95k9

Comment: None of the Hadi Gov delegates is flying from areas under their control in Yemen nor has any of them lived in #Yemen the past 3 years. They don’t understand the suffering of the Yemeni people.

https://twitter.com/AishaJumaan/status/1070093531165773824

(A P)

This is where the high-stake Yemen peace talks will take place

https://www.thelocal.se/20181205/this-is-where-the-high-stake-yemen-peace-talks-will-take-place-sweden-stockholm-johannesberg

(A P)

Expectations low as Yemen’s warring parties meet for talks

U.N. officials say they don’t expect rapid progress toward a political settlement, but hope for at least minor steps that would help to address Yemen’s worsening humanitarian crisis.

Yemeni scholar Hisham Al-Omeisy, who has written extensively about the conflict, said the talks would focus on “de-escalation and starting the political process.”

“It’s not much, but given the humanitarian situation and toxic political atmosphere currently prevalent in Yemen, it’s better than nothing.”

“I don’t expect much from this round,” said Baligh al-Makhlafy, a Yemeni pro-government analyst attending the talks as a technical consultant. “Maybe there’ll be some more exchange of prisoners or some progress on the economy, but I don’t think the Houthis will leave Hodeida peacefully. They believe they have a powerful card there.”

https://apnews.com/93d4bdbc7c5649b2910a13d9c93f3a56 = https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/as-yemens-warring-parties-meet-for-talks-officials-hope-for-small-steps

(A P)

Few Yemenis Express Optimism About Peace Talks

Yemen analyst Adam Baron told VOA that while the "scene is now set for [talks in Sweden]," following the transport of wounded Houthi fighters to Oman, he was concerned that the impending negotiations would be a "fraught process."

"Getting this to work," he argued, "involves getting a lot of moving parts in order, [and] all it takes is for one of them to go awry for the whole thing to collapse."

Aref Sarmi, a Yemeni analyst in Cairo, was not optimistic about the chances of success at the U.N.-sponsored talks in Sweden.

Sarmi said he did not expect anything surprising or earthshaking to come out of the talks. He said he thought the importance of the talks lay in the fact that the opposing parties were attending, as well as in the temporary truce that will allow Yemenis to breathe.

Khaled, a businessman in Sanaa, voiced pessimism.

https://www.voanews.com/a/few-yemenis-express-optimism-about-peace-talks/4688284.html

(A P)

Joint INGO Statement Welcoming the Upcoming Consultations in Sweden

https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/joint-ingo-statement-welcoming-upcoming-consultations-sweden

and also https://reliefweb.int/report/yemen/statement-mohamed-abdi-yemen-country-director-norwegian-refugee-council-political

(* B P)

Sweden talks best chance yet to end Yemen war

The first Yemen peace talks since 2016 are the best chance yet to end the war, analysts say, as the international community throws its weight behind resolving the devastating conflict.

"What we have now is a window of opportunity -- probably the best we have seen in months -- to finally get peace talks started," said Elizabeth Dickinson, senior analyst with the International Crisis Group.

But doubts remain as to whether external pressure is enough to bring both sides to the table "in a serious way", Dickinson told AFP.

Neil Partrick, a specialist in Gulf Arab politics, said that now is "the most opportune time to end the fighting" since the 2015 Saudi-led intervention.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6461845/Sweden-talks-best-chance-end-Yemen-war.html

(* B P)

Pauses for peace that may end Yemen’s war

Humanitarian gestures by both sides in the conflict, just before talks expected in Sweden, hint at a recognition of the principles that set limits on violence and protect the innocent.

Those principles, simply put, are that the violence of war must have its limits and that innocent life must be protected. Even the slightest admission that such principles have a role to play in a war seen as a proxy conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia is a welcome step.

Further gestures of peace are now possible in Yemen, such as more prisoner releases as well as a truce in the port city of Hodeidah

https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/the-monitors-view/2018/1204/Pauses-for-peace-that-may-end-Yemen-s-war

My comment: I hope this optimism will be right.

(* A P)

Houthis: Only political solution can end war in Yemen

A senior leader from Yemen's Houthi rebels says his group hopes upcoming peace talks in Sweden will lead to an "inclusive political dialogue" that will end the war.

Abdul Malik al-Ajri told Al Jazeera that the Houthis, who arrived in the Swedish capital on Tuesday, were looking to discuss a range of political issues at the talks the drafting of a new constitution and the issue of southern Yemen, where calls have been growing since March 2015 for independence from the north.

"We are hoping these negotiations will help end the war," al-Ajri said. "We will be calling for the land, sea and air blockade imposed on Yemen [by Saudi Arabia and the UAE] to be lifted, and for restrictions on goods entering the country to be lifted.

"A political solution is the only route to save whatever can be saved," al-Ajri said.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/houthis-political-solution-war-yemen-181205081849936.html

(A P)

UK voices support for Yemen peace talks in Sweden

Britain’s ambassador to Iran voiced support for the upcoming round of UN-initiated talks in Sweden aimed at ending the war on Yemen, stressing that there is no military solution to the conflict in the Arab country.

http://en.abna24.com/news//uk-voices-support-for-yemen-peace-talks-in-sweden_919403.html

(A P)

Press Statement, Heather Nauert, US State Department Spokesperson

As consultations are set to commence between the Republic of Yemen Government and the Houthis in Sweden, the United States calls on parties to engage fully and genuinely, and cease any ongoing hostilities. The people of Yemen have suffered far too long. The parties owe it to their fellow Yemenis to seize this opportunity.

We have no illusions that this process will be easy, but we welcome this necessary and vital first step

https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/12/287883.htm

My comment: Hypocrisy of the worst type by the state which had enabled this war, had fueled and supported it for nearly 4 years now, and which had made billions with it.

(* A P)

Breakthrough unlikely at Yemeni talks, UN source says

Speaking to RTÉ News, the UN source said: "At this point there won't be such a thing as a comprehensive ceasefire.

"What we are hoping for is gradual de-escalation. We are hoping to reach agreement on steps for confidence-building measures. We are hoping for the parties to agree a framework that is going to be a roadmap for moving forward with a peaceful transition," they said.

"I don't think there is going to be any one big shot thing. There won't be any announcement of a comprehensive ceasefire or an end of all hostilities. It's just not practical to set that as an objective."

https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2018/1204/1015115-yemen/

and overview by AFP: https://us.cnn.com/2018/12/05/middleeast/yemen-peace-talks-intl/index.html

by AP: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/yemen-s-warring-parties-talk-12-million-suffer-severe-hunger-n943971

(* A P)

Parties to Yemen Conflict Begin to Arrive to Peace Talks in Sweden

Sweden’s foreign minister confirmed late Tuesday that the parties to the Yemen conflict have begun to arrive in Sweden for peace talks that are expected to start later this week.

“The Houthi delegation has arrived to Sweden, together with Special Envoys from UN, Sweden and Kuwait for planned consultations on Yemen,” Margot Wallström said in a tweet. “Expect Yemeni Government delegation shortly. Hopefully consultations will take place soon, as an urgent step towards ending the conflict.”

https://www.voanews.com/a/parties-to-yemen-conflict-begin-to-arrive-to-peace-talks-in-sweden/4687339.html

(* A P)

Yemen's Houthi rebels land in Sweden for UN-brokered peace talks

Houthis arrived late Tuesday, while officials representing Yemen's Saudi-backed government to land in Sweden on Wednesday

A delegation of Houthi rebels has arrived in Sweden alongside the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, who has spearheaded a recent international push to bring the country's warring sides to the negotiating table.

The Houthi delegation arrived in Sweden for the peace talks late on Tuesday, the UN said, as reported by AFP.

Officials representing Yemen's Saudi-backed government, headed by ousted President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, are due to arrive on Wednesday, the news agency said.

"Griffiths was true to his word ... We are certain he has put in place a general framework for negotiations in order to proceed with the political process," Abdelmeguid Hanash, a member of the Houthi team, told reporters before boarding a Kuwaiti plane that took off from Yemen's capital, Sanaa, for Sweden.

The UN has actively sought to get the warring parties together for peace negotiations to bring an end to the devastating conflict and this would be the first peace talks since 2016.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemens-houthi-rebels-land-sweden-peace-talks-1160837026

(* A P)

Houthi Delegation Leaves Yemen for Talks in Sweden

A delegation of Houthi rebels flew from the capital of Yemen to Sweden on Tuesday, the biggest step toward peace in the country’s civil war since 2016.

Houthi officials said that preliminary consultations with a delegation from the Saudi-backed government led by President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi could begin as early as Wednesday.

The United Nations envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, was also aboard the Kuwaiti airliner that left Sana, the capital, on Tuesday,

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/04/world/middleeast/houthi-yemen-peace-talks-sweden.html

photo: https://twitter.com/narrabyee/status/1070169956833222656

(A P)

Al-Houthi delegation leaves Sanaa on Kuwaiti aircraft with Kuwait's ambassador

al-Jarallah said the Kuwaiti ambassador to Sanaa will be aboard the Kuwaiti airliner, without further details.

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161747

(* A P)

UN Yemen envoy flies in with Houthis for fragile Stockholm peace talks

The UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, is accompanying a Houthi negotiating team to Stockholm for the first peace talks on the war in the country since 2016, amid fears that one misstep could cause the fragile summit to collapse.

Negotiators from the Saudi-backed government of President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi are expected to follow the Houthis to Sweden in time for talks to begin as early as Wednesday.

An initial focus of the discussions will be confidence-building measures, including how to implement a massive prisoner-swap programme agreed in principle and to be overseen by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

The parties will also discuss the potential future UN administration of Hodeidah, the strategic port through which most aid travels.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/04/un-yemen-envoy-to-accompany-houthi-team-to-stockholm-peace-talks

(B P)

Hisham Al-Omeisy: A good momentum ahead of political consultations. Confidence building measures in place, wounded evaced, prisoner swap, shuttle diplomacy working. Major players on board, even Iran seems throwing back behind it. Skepticism warranted, but still hopefull. Give #Yemen peace a chance

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/1069897859590471680

(A P)

I am only counting on one member of delegations, Rana Ghanem the only woman.

https://twitter.com/RashaJarhum/status/1069664285423427586

Only ONE woman in #Yemen gov't delegation of 12 to Sweden peace consultations.

https://twitter.com/omeisy/status/1069836841787056128

I hope H.E. @margotwallstrom will impose a condition to welcome the #Yemen-i peace consultations delegations ONLY if they respect the no less than 30% of women in their formations.

https://twitter.com/RashaJarhum/status/1069209206761259008

My comment: The first failure…

(A H P)

Yemen peace consultations: time for action

David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee said:

“The Yemen peace consultations taking place in Stockholm, Sweden this week must result in meaningful steps to relieve human suffering in Yemen.

https://www.rescue.org/press-release/yemen-peace-consultations-time-action

and another statement by D. Miliband: https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/yemen-war-saudi-arabia-uae-hodeidah-houthi-rebels-blockade-un-peace-talks-a8666176.html

(A P)

Iran Calls on Yemeni Sides to Take Part in Constructive Talks

"Iran supports the upcoming intra-Yemeni talks in Sweden. All sides should enter constructive and responsible engagement to end the crisis in Yemen," Zarif wrote on his Twitter account.

http://en.farsnews.com/newstext.aspx?nn=13970913000440

(* A P)

Yemen's Houthis set to head to Sweden peace talks as U.N. warns on economy

A Yemeni Houthi delegation is expected to leave for Sweden on Tuesday for U.N.-sponsored peace talks, the first since 2016

Hadi’s government is expected to follow the group, whose attendance was secured after the coalition allowed the evacuation of 50 wounded Houthis for treatment in Oman on Monday.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-security/yemens-houthis-set-to-head-to-sweden-peace-talks-as-u-n-warns-on-economy-idUSKBN1O30SU

(* A P)

Prisoner swap deal gives new boost to Yemen talks push

Yemen's Saudi-backed government and the Huthi rebels said Tuesday they had agreed to swap hundreds of prisoners in another boost to UN efforts to convene new peace talks later this month.

The deal was swiftly welcomed by the International Committee of the Red Cross, which will oversee the exchange after the first round of planned peace talks in Sweden.

The deal was struck by UN envoy Martin Griffiths, who was in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Tuesday for meetings already buoyed by the evacuation of 50 wounded Huthi insurgent fighters for treatment in neutral Oman on Monday -- a key rebel precondition for the talks.

Yemeni government official Hadi Haig told AFP that between 1,500 and 2,000 members of pro-government forces and between 1,000 and 1,500 rebels would be released.

https://www.afp.com/en/news/3954/prisoner-swap-deal-gives-new-boost-yemen-talks-push-doc-1bb95k2 = https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6458253/UN-envoy-pushes-Yemen-peace-talks-key-rebel-demand-met.html

and

(* A P)

Yemeni government, Houthis sign prisoner swap deal

The Saudi-backed Yemeni government and the Iran-aligned Houthis yesterday agreed on a mass prisoner swap deal, days ahead of the United Nations (UN) peace talks which are due to begin on Wednesday.

“The office of the UN envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, informed us on Sunday that the Saudi-led Arab coalition and the Yemeni government signed the prisoner swap deal, which we signed last November,” the chairman of Houthis’ Committee for Prisoner Affairs, Abdul Qader Al-Murtaza, said on Facebook.

“The deal will be the first step to end Yemen’s humanitarian issue,” he said, hoping that it would be “implemented without problems.”

https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20181205-yemeni-government-houthis-sign-prisoner-swap-deal/

and also https://www.alsahwa-yemen.net/en/p-25845

(A P)

Sweden talks 'critical opportunity' for Yemen peace: UAE

Proposed UN-led talks in Sweden mark a "critical opportunity" to bring peace to war-torn Yemen after four years of conflict, a top Emirati official said Tuesday.

The comments from the United Arab Emirates, which is part of the pro-government coalition fighting Huthi rebels in Yemen, came as UN envoy Martin Griffiths is in the rebel-held capital Sanaa seeking to push forward the planned talks.

"Evacuating wounded Huthi fighters from Sanaa once again demonstrates the Yemeni government & the Arab coalition's support for peace," the UAE's state minister for foreign affairs, Anwar Gargash, said in a tweet.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-6457879/Sweden-talks-critical-opportunity-Yemen-peace-UAE.html = https://www.sbs.com.au/news/this-week-s-yemen-peace-talks-critical-opportunity-for-war-torn-country

My comment: There really is no reason for self-praise.

(* A B P)

Film by Press TV Iran: LIVE: This edition of #PressTVDebate discusses YEMEN'S PEACE TALKS.

https://www.facebook.com/PRESSTV/videos/2072480152772689

(* A B P)

All you need to know about the Yemen 'peace talks'

As some of the key players in Yemen's war meet in Sweden, will peace finally be achieved?

A source familiar with the talks told Al Jazeera that the UN is seeking to introduce a set of confidence-building measures, including a ceasefire in Hodeidah and an end to the Saudi and United Arab Emirates (UAE) air strikes across the country.

The source added that the Houthis will cease all rocket and drone attacks on Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The talks are also expected to discuss the reopening of Sanaa international airport, large-scale prisoner swaps and the payment of salaries to civil servants in Houthi-held areas.

The "consultations" will be attended by only the main "parties to the conflict", according to the UN: representatives from President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government and the Houthis.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths is hoping to getboth sides to agree to a "framework" that "establishes the principles and parameters for UN-led, inclusive Yemeni negotiations to end the war, and restart a political transition".

Despite the lead role the alliance is playing in the war, Saudi Arabia and the UAE will not be present in Sweden.

However, both countries and Iran – which supposedly backs the Houthis - have said they support the UN’s scheme.

One powerful group expected to be left out of the talks are the southern secessionists, some of whom are represented by the Southern Transitional Council (STC).

Getting the warring parties around a negotiating table is in itself a "major achievement", according to analysts.

"Realistically, a best-case scenario would be to see a set of announcements on confidence-building measures, a set of de-escalation agreements and then some sort of agreement for further talks," said Baron.

"But the trust among the various parties is so low at this point that this really is starting off from ground zero."

Maysaa Shuja al-Deen, a non-resident fellow at the Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies, said while this first round of talks would be "a trust-building exercise", there could still be several breakthroughs – by Faisal Edroos

https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/yemen-peace-talks-181202101535422.html

(* A P)

UK Foreign minister: we are working on a new draft in UN on Yemen

Hunt has also disclosed UK plans to hold a vote on a new UN resolution calling for a ceasefire in Yemen have been delayed until after the peace talks have concluded.

Pressed by the shadow foreign secretary, Emily Thornberry, Hunt conceded the UK had to make compromises on the draft text of the UN resolution. “I can confirm both the original text, and the current text, refers to international humanitarian law, but in the process of getting that text agreed, did we make compromises to the Saudis, did we make compromises to the Houthis? Yes, we did, and as a result of this diplomacy, talks are happening this week.”

http://almasdaronline.com/articles/161795

My comment: There hardly will be any compromisis to the Houthis, but plenty of compromises to the Saudis, backed by the US.

Vorige / Previous:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose/jemenkrieg-mosaik-487-yemen-war-mosaic-487

Jemenkrieg-Mosaik 1-487 / Yemen War Mosaic 1-487:

https://www.freitag.de/autoren/dklose oder / or http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

Der saudische Luftkrieg im Bild / Saudi aerial war images:

(18 +, Nichts für Sensible!) / (18 +; Graphic!)

http://poorworld.net/YemenWar.htm

http://yemenwarcrimes.blogspot.de/

http://www.yemenwar.info/

und alle Liste aller Luftangriffe / and list of all air raids:

http://yemendataproject.org/data/

Dieser Beitrag gibt die Meinung des Autors wieder, nicht notwendigerweise die der Redaktion des Freitag.
Geschrieben von

Dietrich Klose

Vielfältig interessiert am aktuellen Geschehen, zur Zeit besonders: Ukraine, Russland, Jemen, Rolle der USA, Neoliberalismus, Ausbeutung der 3. Welt

Dietrich Klose

Was ist Ihre Meinung?
Diskutieren Sie mit.

Kommentare einblenden