However, this round of negotiations after months of deliberations by Martin Griffiths, the UN special envoy for Yemen, began on Thursday between the two sides, aimed at ending nearly four years of brutal war in the country.
The Yemeni peace talks in Stockholm, Sweden, have provided conditions for Yemeni groups, in the form of a state of national salvation, to revive and restore the ignored rights of the Yemeni people.
The strategic port of Al-Hudaydah was the most important issue in the talks holding in Sweden’s capital. Saudi-led coalition has blocked Al-Hudaydah city, and after several months of aggressive attack by ground, air and sea, they failed to dominate the city of Al-Hudaydah, but the coalition has completely besieged the city.

The main demand of the Yemeni groups in the Stockholm negotiations is to determine the fate of Al-Hudaydah province and to remove the complete blockade. However, it seems that the Saudi Arabia’s mercenaries squabbling excesses in the repressive Yemeni government continues. And they do not want a logical solution to the issue of Al-Hudaydah.

The Yemeni government of former Yemeni president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, demanded that the Houthis fully withdraw from Al-Hudaydah. Yemen’s popular Houthi Ansarullah movement, Mohammed Abdul-Salam announced that the city of Al-Hudaydah should be neutral zone and there will be no need for a military presence there if the battles stop.

Despite the fact that the Yemeni groups have gathered in Stockholm, Sweden, to end the crises in the country, the other side, representatives of Saud-back Hadi government, has always been trying to defeat the negotiations by seeking unreasonable conditions, and to block bilateral agreements.

Another key issue of the peace talks is the reopening the airport at the capital, Sanaa, which has been bombed several times. The airport is in Houthi’s territory but access to it is restricted by the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the air space. The Sanaa International Airport, controlled by the Yemeni forces, is now technically prepared to resume flights, but the Saudi-led military coalition won’t allow flights.

In the Swedish negotiations, the Yemeni government raised the precondition for issuance of a permit to reopen the Sanaa International Airport. The condition was that all flights from and to Sana’a airport be inspected and audited, however, the condition was opposed by the Sana’a Board.

The Houthi delegation head at the peace talks, Mohammed Abdusalam, rejected the proposal. “The airport should be opened in accordance with international standards, and we do not accept inspections.”

Sana’a’s government has agreed to work on the role of the United Nations at Sana’a Airport in order to advance negotiations and show its goodwill in this regard.

One of strategic suggestion in Stockholm talks was calling for a transitional government representing all political parties.

Despite the proposal made, the delegation has not shown any response on behalf of the Yemeni government. This means that this delegation has not stepped in to help realize peace and end crisis in Yemen, but it has come to Sweden to dictate demands.

As the peace talks continue, the persecution of the Saudi-led coalition against Yemen has once again shown that the Saudis prefer their military and criminal strategy to a political solution to the Yemen crisis. Within several days of the Stockholm talks, several areas in Yemen have been targeted by Saudi attacks, followed by dozens of civilians’ martyrdom.

The spokesman of Yemeni Armed Forces, Brigadier General Yahya Sare’e has sharply condemned the Saudi-led coalition’s attacks against Yemen. He added: “the fact that the coalition forces and their mercenaries have continued their aggression against Yemen on the first day of peace talks in Sweden indicates that the aggressors have no interest in the establishment of peace and preparing the grounds for a second round of talks.”

The biggest challenge facing the current talks between the Sana’a delegation and the Yemeni government delegation is that the government has no discretionary power to make strategic decisions, and it is fully passive in order to reduce the public pressure.

Perhaps if representatives from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were present at the negotiating table with the Sana’a delegation, the talks further saw progress as the “reliant government” delegation virtually lack authority.

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In the statement, the Foreign Ministry called on all Yemeni parties to engage “constructively and responsibly” in the Stockholm talks and  take steps to build confidence and provide the necessary ground for reaching a comprehensive agreement that would end the suffering of the Yemeni people and the cruel blockade on the Arab country.

The ministry also pointed to Iran’s four-point peace plan for Yemen and said the Islamic Republic once again emphasizes that the Yemeni crisis has no solution other than a political one based on Yemeni-Yemeni talks.

Tehran also calls on the international community to play a more serious role in facilitating the peace process in Yemen through imposing pressures on countries exporting weapons to the Saudi-led coalition, according to the statement.

Britain’s ambassador to Yemen said Thursday he had spoken with representatives from the country’s warring sides and that he expects them to attend peace talks that are to begin this week in Stockholm.

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday highlighted the effectiveness of the four-point plan he had put forward in 2015 for bringing peace to Yemen and said it “still remains the only viable option”.

Yemen’s defenseless people have been under massive attacks by the coalition for more than three-and-a-half years but Riyadh has reached none of its objectives in Yemen so far.

Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out deadly airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and the accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.

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The organizers called Farhadi “one of world cinema’s greatest masters” and added “He meticulously depicts contemporary issues in his films, and how these are reflected in close relationships.

“His stories subtly move between the sophisticated and the mysterious almost as naturally as they are inimitable.

“Asghar Farhadi has undeniably meant a lot to a new generation of Iranian filmmakers, as well as for film lovers across the world. It is therefore a great honor to present the 2018 Stockholm Visionary Award to Asghar Farhadi.”

Farhadi will be at the Stockholm International Film Festival, which will held from November 7 to 18, to promote his latest film “Everybody Knows” and to accept the Bronze Horse, world’s heaviest film prize that weighs 7.3 kilos.

He will also attend a review session on November 9 for his movie starring Penélope Cruz and Javier Bardem.

Earlier recipients of the Stockholm Visionary Award include Pablo Larraín, Alejandro González Iñárritu, Yorgos Lanthimos and Wes Anderson.

Photo: Iranian director Asghar Farhadi attends a photocall for his “The Salesman” at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 22, 2016. (AFP/Loic Venance)

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