U.S Assistant Secretary of Near Eastern Affairs, David Schenker, says U.S officials are in contact with Houthi rebels and are discussing a peace deal with the militant group.
The war in Yemen has raged on for five years now--first beginning in 2014 when Houthi rebels launched an attack on the government and captured the capital Sanaa. Ever since the war began, 11,700 civilians are estimated to have died from the tribal conflict, Yemen's now-former President Ali Abdullah Saleh was ousted and eventually shot and killed by rebel forces, over 3 million people have been displaced, 20 million people of the total population of 29 million are food insecure, and the country is facing the world's worst cholera and malnutrition outbreak in over a hundred years.
Now, after failed attempts by the Obama Administration and the U.N to mediate a lasting peace deal between the rebels and the Yemeni government, the Trump Administration says they are on the verge of achieving a breakthrough on the stalled talks.
"We are also having talks to the extent possible with the Houthis to try and find a mutually accepted negotiated solution to the conflict,"Schenker said. When questioned by journalists, Houthi officials refused to confirm nor deny that they were in talks with the U.S to end the war. "That the United States says they are talking to us is a great victory for us and proves that we are right," Senior Houthi Official Hamid Assem said.
Efforts to reach a peace deal with the Houthi rebels aren't new. Last December alone, the UN hosted a week-long summit in Sweden between the Houthis and Yemen's internationally recognized government. The outcome of those talks was the Stockholm Agreement. The deal was that the Houthis would withdraw from Hodeidah, a prisoner swap would take place, and a formal council between the Houthi's, the current government, and the UN would be formed until a nationwide peace deal was reached. In May of this year, Houthi rebels seemed to have been respecting the agreement after reports of rebel forces leaving Hodeidah emerged. But just four days later, the ceasefire was broken and fighting resumed, and Yemen's internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi accused the UN of picking sides. Now ISIS and more than five countries, including Canada, are actively involved in the war through proxies. And according to the Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), an estimated total of 100,000 people have died since the war began.
No word yet on when a possible peace deal or a public peace summit will be announced. By: Niza Nondo
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