Russia for early meeting on Yemen - ambassador

MOSCOW, February 8. /TASS/. Russia hopes that another meeting on Yemen will take place in the near future, Russia’s ambassador to Yemen told TASS in an interview. "The latest intra-Yemeni meeting in Biel, Switzerland, at the end of last December was held on the basis of an agenda agreed (at the cost of great efforts) by the UN Secretary-General’s special envoy, Ismail Uld Sheikh Ahmed," Dedushkin recalled. "It was the first direct contact between the conflicting parties. The role of efforts by the special UN envoy should not be underestimated. "In Biel, there was created a special UN coordinator-led committee for de-escalation consisting of military representatives from the conflicting sides. "The committee’s task is to control ceasefire, should such a regimen take effect. Committees for humanitarian issues and political settlement were established." "The United Nations managed to lay the basis of future mechanisms of reconciliation and political dialogue," Dedushkin believes. "Even though these mechanisms have not yet been used to the full and the confrontation has not been stopped yet, the first stride towards peace has been made. "The UN Secretary-General’s special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Uld Sheikh Ahmed, is holding intensive contacts with the aim to convene another round of consultations," the diplomat said. "At this phase their preparations have confronted certain difficulties, because the parties have been trying to link the talks with preconditions. For instance the Houthi rebels and Yemen’s General People’s Congress party insist on the termination of bombardments, while the government demands implementation of the confidence-building measures agreed in Bile, such as the release of all political prisoners being held by the Houthis and the lifting of siege from Yemen’s third largest city of Taiz. "Russia is urging all parties to overcome technical problems as soon as possible. It stresses the fact that putting forward any preconditions would be counter-productive." "It is to be hoped the Yemenis in Sana and Riyadh develop the awareness there can be no military solution to the conflict and another meeting should take place no matter what in the near future. We hope this will be so," Dedushkin said. Read more