News Analysis: building peace in Yemen faces internal, external obstacles

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said a ceasefire will begin in Yemen on April 10 as a prelude to a new round of peace talks in order to end a one-year armed conflict.

The statement followed recent key developments that reflected intentions of all sides to end the conflict, including a deal between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi group to stop battles on the border and a deescalation by the Saudi-led military coalition. The coalition has been striking Yemen since March 2015.

Yaseen Al-Tamimi, a political analyst and writer, said the planned resumption of peace talks comes as a result of huge efforts by the UN envoy and international players in order to put an end to the bloodiest and most destructive war in Yemen.

"More importantly, the Houthi group accepted to abide by UN resolutions and come back to the talks table after suffering huge losses in the conflict. It seems the Houthis have sheltered to UN resolutions as the only way to guarantee political gains after the military loss," said Al-Tamimi.

"However, their acceptance to abide by the UN resolutions might be a manoeuvre, not a real intention to return to the peace process. Thus, the government has to be careful and insist on immediate commitment of the Houthis to the UN resolutions," he added.

Meanwhile, observers argue that huge challenges still lay ahead of the peace process in Yemen.

Fuad Al-Salahi, a political sociology professor at Sanaa University, said Yemeni factions are well known for manoeuvres and failure to respect deals.

"In general, Cheikh did not reveal the agenda of the new round of talks nor guarantees for participation of all parties to the talks or guarantees for their commitment to what they may agree on," said Al-Salahi.

"The UN sponsored the transition process and then peace talks. All failed easily in the end. What makes us sure this time everything will be fine if there are no guarantees?" he said.

"Another key point is that regional powers which have proxies in Yemen have not settled their disputes so that they want to help build peace in the country. Besides, the international community is busier with the situation in Syria and terrorist threats in Europe which means peace in Yemen could not be given priority, at least for now," Al-Salahi said.

In this regard, Al-Tamimi said that building peace depends largely on commitment of the Houthi group to turn into a political group.

"The extremist Houthi group and Southern Movement, Harak, represent the biggest challenge to the peace process. There will be no peace if these two factions don't accept to disarm and then be part of a civil state," said Al-Tamimi.

Najeeb Ghallab, a political analyst, said any peaceful solution should be based on retaking all military and non-military organisations from militias and ending rebellion in all parts of Yemen.

"Priority should be given to ending the conflict, boosting security and rebuilding the armed and security forces," said Ghallab.

Nabil Albukiri, a Yemeni researcher, said only practical implantation of the UN resolution 2216 with no preconditions can pave way for real peace in the country.

"In addition, foreign players should understand that only Yemenis can serve peace in their country and foreign interventions should be based on this fact," Albukiri added. Endit