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Yemen, Saudi Arabia expected to start real peace talks: Analyst

Monday, 03 October 2016 8:13 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 03 October 2016 8:15 AM ]

A handout picture released by Kuwait's ministry of information on July 17, 2016, shows the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (C), speaking during a meeting of the Yemeni Peace Talks with delegations in Kuwait City. (AFP photo)

The formation of a new government in Yemen is expected to be a proper move to uphold the Yemenis’ stance in bargaining for peace with militants loyal to resigned president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, Veterans Today's senior editor Gordon Duff told Press TV’s 'Top 5.'

Yemen’s ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement and allies have agreed to task Abdulaziz bin Habtoor, former governor of the province of Aden, with forming a new government.

Duff said that Habtoor is “an excellent leader” and he will be able to unite the impoverished country. The development inside Yemen may help the new government to begin a real negotiation with the Saudi-backed militants, he added.

The Yemeni government has recognized that there is no military balance between Yemen on the one side, and the Saudi-led coalition including the United States, Israel, Morocco, Spain and even Denmark on the other, the analyst said.

He further noted that Saudi Arabia refused to hold real negotiations with Yemen because the Saudis wanted to continue their airstrikes to reinstate Hadi, adding however that the Saudi kingdom is now running out of money and is falling short of its objectives in Yemen.

Duff also hoped that the US allegations of Saudi complicity in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks had shown to the Saudis that the US was not a good partner for them. He predicted that Washington’s change of policy towards Riyadh after the 2016 US presidential election will push the Al Saud to hold real negotiations with the Yemeni government.

Ruling out a “false narrative” that claims the Saudi war on Yemen derives from a longtime “animosity” between Riyadh and Tehran, he argued that Saudi Arabia and Iran are going to redress their relationship.

Yemen has been under almost incessant Saudi airstrikes and ground operations since March last year. The attacks, which have killed nearly 10,000 people and lack any international mandate, are meant to undermine the Ansarullah movement and its allies.

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