US envoy to Yemen is seeking for reaching a solution for Marib conflicts
Since being selected as Washington’s special envoy for Yemen, and starting his third visit to the Middle East, Tim Lenderking is seeking to make pressure for a final settlement that could cease the war-ravaged country’s political and humanitarian crisis.
The Houthi military escalation in the oil-rich governorate of Marib where thousands of refugees have found the safety, present currently the number one issue in the list of priorities.
The US envoy started his latest visit in the Gulf state of Oman, and it’s expected that he gather Houthi representatives. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths has also arrived in the Omani capital, Muscat.
They had independently gathered with Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, Prime Minister Maeen Abdulmalik Saeed and Foreign Minister Ahmad Awad bin Mubarak in Riyadh before going to Oman.
The State Department’s Near Eastern Affairs bureau reported in a tweet: Yemeni Foreign Minister Bin Mubarak and US Envoy to Yemen Lenderking discussed the need to cease the Houthi assault on Marib in order to move to political negotiations, open humanitarian access and end the conflict.
About the Lenderking’s trip to Oman, State Department Spokesperson Jalina Porter declared that it was going to be the envoy’s first stop on a regional trip, but she couldn’t confirm if he had gathered with Houthi representatives, adding in a press briefing that Lenderking was in the region in harmonization with Griffiths.
Porter stated: This is going to be an ongoing joint discussion on our international efforts to promote peace and a lasting ceasefire in Yemen, and again, an inclusive peace agreement as well as to address our efforts of the country’s dire humanitarian crisis.
In fact, the severe struggling in the country’s north and around the strategic governorate of Marib induced another obstacle for peace efforts in Yemen and made the distribution of humanitarian aid to the country’s indigent very difficult.
In the same context, a source close to the UN efforts informed AFP that the initiative for a ceasefire is effectively blocked until the won or the failure of the fight outside the city of Marib.
The Iran-backed Houthis are providing all that they have at the fight for the capital of an oil-rich region, and they supporting heavy fatalities as a price value paying for the last part of the north that is still controlled by the government.
The source also said that the fight is holding back the negotiations … because the Houthis want to see how far they can go, adding that tragically, and somewhat confusingly for me, it appears that the Houthis are prioritizing a military campaign to take Marib over … suspending the war and moving relief to the Yemeni people.
