{"id":24899,"date":"2018-12-10T00:24:08","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T00:24:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=24899"},"modified":"2018-12-10T00:24:08","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T00:24:08","slug":"yemen-talks-yielding-results-shipping-permits-issued-for-essential-goods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=24899","title":{"rendered":"Yemen talks \u2018yielding results,\u2019 shipping permits issued for essential goods"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nRIMBO, SWEDEN: Houthi delegates at talks underway in Sweden to try end their country\u2019s ruinous civil war reported progress on Saturday on the key issues of reopening the airport at the capital, Sanaa, and the implementation of an agreement reached earlier this week on the exchange of prisoners.<\/p>\n

\nUN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, struck a positive note, saying in a brief statement read to reporters that the two sides were demonstrating a \u201cpositive spirit\u201d in the talks, held at a castle in the town of Rimbo, north of Stockholm.<\/p>\n

\nYemen\u2019s four-year conflict, which has pushed the country to the brink of famine, pits the country\u2019s Iran-backed militants, known as Houthis, against Yemen\u2019s internationally recognized government supported by an Arab coalition. The UN has long led a push to resolve the conflict but past attempts at constructive talks have led nowhere.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe two parties are engaged in a serious and constructive way in discussing the details of confidence-building measures,\u201d Griffiths said. \u201cWe hope we will achieve progress during this round of consultations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\"\"On Sunday,\u00a0the coalition fighting in Yemen said\u00a0it had issued 17 permits for vessels carrying foodstuffs and petroleum products destined for Yemeni ports.<\/p>\n

\nAlso speaking on Saturday, the third day of the talks, Houthi delegate Abdul-Malik Al-Hajjri said enough progress has been made on the airport issue that some \u201cpositive results\u201d could be announced as early as Sunday.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThere was a wide-ranging discussion yesterday and today on the re-opening of Sanaa airport and, God willing, there will be some positive results tomorrow on a comprehensive scenario for the reopening of Sanaa airport,\u201d he told a news conference.<\/p>\n

\nHe gave no details except that one proposal made by the militants was for Sanaa-bound aircraft to stop at another city in the region for inspection before they proceed to the Yemeni capital. He suggested Amman, Jordan\u2019s capital, as a candidate for an inspection stopover.<\/p>\n

\nThe Houthis captured Sanaa in 2014, forcing the government into exile and plunging the impoverished Arab nation into civil war. With the Houthis in control of most of the country, a US-backed Arab coalition entered the war in March 2015 on the side of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi\u2019s government.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe Houthis now control the north of the country while the government side controls the south.<\/p>\n

\nThe war has killed tens of thousands and made Yemen the world\u2019s worst humanitarian crisis with 22 of its 29 million people in need of aid, according to the UN.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nThe airport in militant-held Sanaa has been closed since August 2016 by order of the Arab coalition, leaving the militant-held north of Yemen heavily relying on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, which is controlled by the Houthis, for delivery of much-needed humanitarian aid and fuel supplies.<\/p>\n

\nThe two sides have for months been locked at a stalemated fight over Hodeida.<\/p>\n

\nOn the issue of the prisoner exchange, Al-Hajjri said the militants were prepared to release all of those they hold, provided the other side reciprocates. The two sides, however, agreed on incremental releases, with 200 prisoners from each side being simultaneously released. He did not say when that would start.<\/p>\n

\nUN officials have sought to downplay expectations from the talks in Sweden, saying they do not foresee rapid progress toward a political settlement but hope for at least minor steps that would help to address Yemen\u2019s worsening humanitarian crisis and prepare a framework for further negotiations.<\/p>\n

\nAbdul-Majid Al-Hanash, another Houthi delegate, emphasized the importance of arriving at such a framework.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIn reality, what we came here for is to discuss the most important topics and that means agreeing on a framework for the political and security files,\u201d he told Saturday\u2019s news conference. \u201cIf put on the table, discussing these files will mean that we expect the battle and the war to end. This is the main objective.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RIMBO, SWEDEN: Houthi delegates at talks underway in Sweden to try end their country\u2019s ruinous civil war reported progress on Saturday on the key issues of reopening the airport at the capital, Sanaa, and the implementation of an agreement reached earlier this week on the exchange of prisoners. UN special envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths,…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":24900,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}