It is accepted by the Saudi-led regional coalition, in support of the legitimate government in Yemen, that Yemen needs to find peace through negotiations. There are several tracks underway and this week’s talks in Oman may have produced some common ground, including the preliminary talks between US officials and Al Houthis, as have earlier rounds of bilateral and multilateral talks in various places. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has tried to bring together these different strands of conversation by calling for a conference in Geneva with all parties. This was supposed to start on May 28, but has been delayed, even as some of the conversations continue. The date may not matter too much, but the longer a solution is delayed the more people will die or become homeless and a UN conference is necessary as soon as possible.
There is already a decent formula for peace in Yemen, which has gained acceptance even if it is not yet ready to be put to the test of a UN conference. The proposal is that Al Houthi rebels should evacuate the cities they have occupied in the centre and south of the country as they pull back to their home city of Saada. The legitimate government should be restored and a timetable should be established for new presidential and parliamentary elections. The plan also includes changes to the ideas from the 2012 National Dialogue to incorporate Al Houthi objections to the plan to create six regions and revert to the traditional two regions of the north and south.
What has been accepted is that all genuine Yemenis are part of the country’s political future. This means that Al Houthis, and the supporters of Ali Abdullah Saleh, as well as those backing the legitimate government and the southerners, are all part of the answer. It also means that supporters of Al Qaida are not part of the constitutional settlement, as their focus on terror and asymmetric warfare cannot be part of any nation-building project.
