US, S Arabia no longer benefiting from Yemen war: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Naseer al-Omari, an author and political commentator in New York, about the UN Security Council  calling on all Yemeni warring sides to develop a roadmap for implementing security measures, and demanded that the UN chief submit a broad peace plan for the war-hit country.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: First of all, let’s not forget that the Saudi aggression on Yemen has been taking place for over a year now. However, why is it that the UN Security Council members felt compelled to pressure the sides into coming up with the negotiated settlement only now?

Omari: I believe that there are two reasons. One, the Saudis are spending a lot of money on this war. It is believed that it is hundreds of millions of dollars a month if not more and the Saudis are running out of money as we have seen in their recent budget. So that is one reason.

The other reason is that al-Qaeda has been strengthening, has been gaining strength and that is why we saw how the United Arab Emirates with the help of the United States attacked al-Mukalla, the stronghold of al-Qaeda and basically ended their presence there.

The situation is not useful for the Saudis, the war is dragging on and al-Qaeda is taking over and the United States and Saudi Arabia are not benefiting any longer from this situation.    

Press TV: So are you then optimistic about this run of negotiations? Do you think that ultimate peace deal will be clinched?

Omari: It will probably take a very long time because we are talking about nation-building here. This is a country that has been torn by war. The priority is for humanitarian aid to arrive to the 20 million Yemenis who are in need of humanitarian aid. Their priority is to restore security to the Yemenis and then the disagreement now is over whether you start with talks about security or with political talks about who rules what and what type of government will emerge.

That is why Ismail Ould Cheikh, the UN envoy said that this is going to be long, this is going to be detailed because we are talking about nation-building and nobody has even started talking about the cost of rebuilding Yemen.  

Press TV: Well I would like to pick up on that, as far as what this future of Yemen will look like under a negotiated peaceful agreement. What kind of compromises can we expect the two sides to make?

Omari: Well there is a basic problem about the form of government. There is a secessionist movement in south Yemen for example which is a very powerful movement. They do not want to have a federal system that they used to have that brought the country together. They believe that that did not benefit the south of Yemen and as we have seen it brought war and destruction to that part of Yemen which used to enjoy a little bit of prosperity, a little bit of stability.

There is also the issue of the Houthis, what kind of government will they accept and you have of course Ali Abdullah Saleh and what role he will play. All of these issues are very, very complicated and that is why I believe the UN envoy said that this is not going to be short-term process. Everybody is going to stay in Kuwait until basic structure of foreign agreement is reached.

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