Omani Delegation Arrives in Yemen to Broker Truce
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – An Omani delegation arrived in Yemen's capital to broker a new truce between the country's Ansarullah popular resistance movement and a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which has been waging war against the impoverished country since 2015.
The Omani delegates arrived on Saturday "to discuss the latest developments in the ongoing negotiations in Muscat with the leadership in Sana'a," according to Yemen's official Saba news agency.
A source at the capital's airport was quoted by AFP as saying that "a delegation from Oman has arrived in Sana'a to hold talks" with Ansarullah's leaders "about the truce and the peace process."
The Saudi-led coalition invaded Yemen in March 2015 after Ansarullah took control of Yemen's affairs in the absence of a functioning government.
The coalition has been seeking to restore power to its former Riyadh-friendly officials. Although the coalition has failed to achieve any of its goals, the war has claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of Yemenis and turned the entire country into the scene of what the UN describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
A truce was established in Yemen last year, which lasted for six months, but it was not renewed after it expired on October 2. The Omani delegation is accompanied by Mohammed Abdulsalam, who is the chief negotiator of Yemen’s National Salvation Government.
Abdulsalam said the Yemeni people's demands were just and included an end to the Saudi-led aggression, the total lifting of the blockade that the aggressors have been imposing on Yemen, and payment of the salaries of all civil servants using revenues from oil and gas. Yemen's demands also included "the exit of foreign forces ... compensation and reconstruction," he added.
Another Yemeni source told AFP on condition of anonymity that the Saudis and Ansarullah have agreed in principle on a six-month-long truce to pave the way for three months of talks on establishing a two-year "transition" for the war-torn country.
In a related development on Saturday, Yemen's al-Masirah television network cited Abdul Qader al-Mortada, head of Yemen's National Committee for Prisoners Affairs, as saying that as many as 13 Yemeni prisoners had been freed by the Saudis and arrived in Sana'a in exchange for one Saudi released earlier.
The UN special envoy to Yemen said the deal was one of several developments reflecting movement towards ending the eight-year conflict.
