US floats idea of division in Yemen, Houthis torpedo plan
US Defense Secretary James Mattis has proposed division and self-rule areas in Yemen to end the bloody civil war, but Houthis categorically reject the proposal.
SANAA — As humanitarian calls intensify for peace in embattled Yemen, the world will have to wait to see whether UN-led negotiations set for December in Sweden actually materialize. The last time negotiations were scheduled — in September in Switzerland — the Houthi rebels didn't attend.
But UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has made a flurry of visits to rally support for the December peace talks. He arrived Nov. 26 in Riyadh after visiting Houthi leaders in Yemen's capital of Sanaa on Nov. 22 and Yemen’s port city of Hodeidah on Nov. 23. The situation is still volatile in Hodeidah, where some of the fiercest battles have been waged. The international community is warning that the port, which is the only entrance for relief material and merchandise to the Houthi-controlled governorates, could cease operations.
Yemen's civil war has been raging since March 2015 between the Houthis (Ansar Allah) and the internationally recognized government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Houthis are backed by Iran, while Hadi's government enjoys military and political support from a coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has called for all parties involved to meet in December. Mattis said Oct. 27 during the International Institute for Strategic Studies Manama Dialogue that any settlement in Yemen would have to be based on dividing the country into areas of self-rule — “the traditional homelands for the traditional peoples, for everyone to be in their own area” — and to provide Houthis with “some degree of autonomy.”
