{"id":25342,"date":"2018-12-13T02:23:17","date_gmt":"2018-12-13T02:23:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=25342"},"modified":"2018-12-13T02:23:17","modified_gmt":"2018-12-13T02:23:17","slug":"tunisias-truth-commission-winds-up-four-year-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=25342","title":{"rendered":"Tunisia\u2019s \u2018truth commission\u2019 winds up four-year mission"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nJEDDAH: Matthew Toller, the American ambassador to Yemen since 2014, looked exhausted after almost a week of peace talks, but as soon as he sat down for our interview in the lobby of a hotel in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, a smile appeared on his face.<\/p>\n

\nHe is one of five envoys from the permanent member states of the UN Security Council who are meeting with delegations from both sides in the Yemen conflict: the legitimate government and the Houthi militias. Does his smile mean the talks are going well?<\/p>\n

\n\u201cIt is clear that the talks of the international community with these parties indicate the unity of the international community\u2019s position regarding the two sides,\u201d he said. \u201cI do not want to get into details but I assure you that the intentions of the five member states reflect a strong support for the role of the UN envoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nToller believes that the Yemeni government delegation is doing its best to represent all Yemenis.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhen I look at the governmental delegation, I see a representation of Yemenis from all regions and political parties, in addition to a female member, which indicates that today\u2019s government includes factions that were never (previously) considered a part of the Yemen\u2019s future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI am happy to know that the Yemeni government is publicly ready to allow the participation of the Houthis, given that their participation will be peaceful and not by the use of arms.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHe also stressed that the Yemeni government cannot be controlled by a single tribe, region or religious sect.<\/p>\n

\nAsked how well the talks been going and whether he feel optimistic about the prospects for peace, Toller said that he believes diplomacy has already proved successful simply because UN envoy Martin Griffiths was able to convince the two sides to sit down together and negotiate.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cAll the thanks and appreciation go to the envoy and all the states that contributed to this achievement,\u201d he said. \u201cTension is clearly still present and it is mainly due to the lack of trust between the two Yemeni parties.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cHowever, many agreements have been concluded with the Houthis, including the agreement that ended the previous Sa\u2019ada wars. Even when Houthis entered Sanaa in September 2014, a national peace and partnership agreement was reached, which indicates the past extensive experience in negotiations between the two parties.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWhen these consultations end in Sweden, everyone will go back to their places and will start implementing what was agreed upon. We hope the two parties will be able to make more progress in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nHas he seen any evidence that the Houthis have matured politically, which has long been a concern of his.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe will wait and see how much they will commit to the agreement, for the political maturity often depends on the commitment level, accompanied by opportunities,\u201d he said. \u201cI cannot but praise the living arrangements in the hotel, which allowed the members to meet unofficially and granted them the opportunity to bond during unofficial encounters, away from all the tension.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nToller and his fellow ambassadors also met representatives from the two delegations at Johannesburg Castle, 60 kilometers north of Stockholm.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe had an official meeting between the ambassadors and a group including a member from the Houthis\u2019 delegation,\u201d he confirmed.<\/p>\n

\nHe was more guarded about discussing whether he had met individually with the Houthis, and if so whether it had been in an official capacity, saying only: \u201cI communicated with some of them in my own way at the castle. All my meetings are official \u2014 I am the ambassador of the US to Yemen, 24 hours a day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nGriffiths, the UN envoy, has thanked the coalition led by Saudi Arabia for its contribution to the success of the peace negotiations. Toller has his own view of the Saudi role in the process.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI really respect the Saudi Ambassador to Yemen Mohammed Al-Jaber,\u201d he said. \u201cHe is such a helpful man, with constructive ideas, and he is representing the interests of his country, which wants this war to end.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nWith the first round of peace talks due to end on December 13, attention is beginning to turn to the next steps and the possibility of further negotiations.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThis is up to the special envoy,\u201d said Toller. \u201cWhat really matters is to resume the consultations soon, and hopefully end in a few weeks or a maximum of one month.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nUltimately, he hops that the biggest beneficiaries of the peace process are the Yemeni people and he has already had some feedback.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI get a lot of messages from Yemenis and, given my long stay in Yemen, I have built a lot of connections \u2014 not only politicians, but also with people working in sports, education and civil society institutions,\u201d he said. \u201cThose people are hoping for the crisis to end because the people can no longer bear the situation.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI also get disappointment. Yemenis are feeling disappointed because they believe that their leadership is not working in their best interests but, rather, catering for individuals or certain political parties.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cI wish they would listen to these messages and change their behavior and actions to meet the needs of the Yemeni people. I also hope the Yemenis will reach an agreement, not to please the UN envoy, the ambassadors or the media, but to fulfill the basic needs of Yemenis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n(Courtesy: Asharq Al-Awsat)<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JEDDAH: Matthew Toller, the American ambassador to Yemen since 2014, looked exhausted after almost a week of peace talks, but as soon as he sat down for our interview in the lobby of a hotel in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, a smile appeared on his face. He is one of five envoys from the permanent…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":25343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25342","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\/25342","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=25342"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25342\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/25343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=25342"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=25342"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=25342"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}