Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Yemen Conflict; Negotiations is the only option!

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Yemen Conflict; Negotiations  is the only option!

The situation in Yemen is getting complicated like the situation in Syria and it is going to be one of the conflicts that are going to exhaust the resources of the region. Although Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies had announced the ending of the operation ‘Decisive Storm,’ claiming that, the operation had attained all its objectives but after a few hours of this announcement, the Arab allied forces started a fresh series of aerial attacks, which has left almost 33 dead. As per last announcement, the operation ‘Decisive Storm’ had destroyed all the threats of rebels by destroying their heavy arms. Saudi Arabia then announced the beginning of a new operation by the name of ‘Restoring Hope’ in which the reconstruction of the country has been taken into consideration. The US, Iran and international community had welcomed the decision of Saudi Arabia to halt the aerial attacks and to begin relief operations. In the same way, Iranian Foreign Minister had tweeted that, ‘Iran has believed right from the first day in the peaceful resolution of this problem and that the use of power was not going to make good to anyone’. However, this problem does not seem to be ending so easily in near future and the already destabilized region is going to fall deep into destruction and destabilization.

According to Saudi officials, Iranian government is supporting the Shiite Yemeni rebels in order to end the Sunni government in the country and increase its influence in the region. However, Iran has regularly been rejecting this and denies any involvement of Iran in the internal problems of the country. The Sunni president of the country is now in another Yemeni city of Aden, after the rebels captured the capital, Sana of the country.

The most unfortunate outcome of this conflict is the widening gap and perception between Sunni and Shiite in the region. It must not be forgotten that large numbers of rebel groups (almost all of them with Sunni background) were motivated to join the holy war against the government of Syrian president Bashar-al-Assad just because of the same factor; to finish the government of a Shiite ruler who was ruling on a majority Sunni population of the country. In the same way, the conflicts in Lebanon, Palestine and other parts of Middle East seems to be ignited and fueled using the same reason. It is unfortunate that the religion that had its objective of bringing peace to the lives of people is now being used to divide and harm others.

The involvement of a large number of Arab powers in the conflict also created a great rift in a number of countries of the region. These countries, all of them with Sunni majority population or ruled by a Sunni ruler, were all brought into the war just to stop the increasing influence of Shiite Iranian government in the region. These countries, including of Qatar, UAE, Egypt and others are now actively participating in this conflict while a number of countries thought loyal to the Saudi Arabia and the holy land.

The role of UN and other international powers in this case is also disappointing and objectionable. As UN is an international body to ensure the peace in every corner of the world while the US claims itself to be the champion and savior of democracy and world order, have not acted properly. The role of other Western powers has not gone beyond issuing statements, criticizing the armed conflict and demanding both the sides to come on the table of negotiations and settle down the issue with peaceful negotiations.

The most benefit of this conflict is going to be enjoyed and benefitted by Israel as now, it has become safe of any kind of problem from Arabs as they are now busy in their internal conflicts and have no time to give attention to Israel. In the same way, the archrival of Israel, Iran is also a major player of this conflict and has no time to say or do anything against the Jewish state.

In the long run, this conflict is going to result in even more drastic consequences for the people of Yemen and the region in general. As we have noticed in a number of other countries of region, monarchs, army generals, rebel leaders, dictators and other elements have not given opportunity for democracy to get strength, the end result of this on-going conflict in the region is going to be the same. Though Saudi-backed president Hadi was an elected president but in most part, he was considered a strong supporter of Saudi Arabia and good follower of policy and strategies of a number of international powers of the world. After this conflict, there are a number of possibilities of a new government. It is for certain that both Saudi Arabia and Iran are not going to easily give up the war and the advancement of rebels is still in progress in different parts of the country. Out of numerous possibilities, one possibility is that the rebels would completely control the country but then it would be difficult to expect the restoration of democracy or a government that should be acceptable for the different groups of the country. Another possibility is the return of President Hadi with the support of Saudi Arabia but this option also seems to be very difficult as the ground realities are not much in favor of the ex-president. For the time being, the aerial attacks of Arab allies might be problematic for the rebels but this strategy might be very risky to continue in the long run and allied forces might not take risk of entering their armed forces inside the country. The third possibility, which seems more feasible and reasonable, is to have a round of talks between the opposing factions and settle down on a government in which both the groups should have representation. After the restoration of peace and security in the country, efforts can be made by this coalition government to bring a true democracy and free and fair elections can be held to run the country according to the desires and wishes of people.

At present, Iran is increasingly pressing the world community on the importance of negotiations and this suggestion has not been warmly welcomed by either Saudi Arabia and its allies, or by the international community. Instead of waiting time and resources, efforts should be made to immediately start peace talks between the warring factions so that a permanent end should be brought to the conflict. Otherwise, this war would keep burning and might engulf many other countries of the region.

Muhammad Rasool Shah works as Academic Coordinator at Barakat Int’l School, Kabul. He can be reached at muhammadrasoolshah@gmail.com

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