Yemeni FM says Sana’a ready to reach fair, honorable peace for war-torn country

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Hisham Sharaf Abdullah says Sana’a is open to a “fair and honorable peace,” calling Saudi Arabia’s ongoing military aggression against his country a failure.

“Sana’a is ready for a just and honorable peace for Yemen,” the Yemeni minister told Lebanon’s al-Mayadeen television network on Wednesday. “Saudi Arabia’s overt and covert goals of aggression against Yemen have failed.”

The remarks come as Yemen has dismissed a so-called peace initiative presented by Saudi Arabia, the country leading the devastating six-year aggression on Yemen, to end the war in the country, saying there is nothing new in it.

The ‘peace initiative’ would include a nationwide ceasefire under the supervision of the UN, the reopening of Sana’a airport and the passage of fuel and food imports through Hudaydah port — both of which are under the control of the Ansarullah movement.

In response to the proposal, Ansarullah said it provided nothing new. The movement said it demanded the lifting of the air and sea blockade, which has contributed to the world’s worst humanitarian crisis in Yemen, as a main pre-condition for any deal.

On March 25, Ansarullah’s chief negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, also told al-Mayadeen that “Saudi Arabia has no right to launch a call for dialogue in light of its continued aggression, and it must exit the war before submitting such an initiative.”

In similar remarks later, Abdulsalam told Reuters that “opening the airports and seaports is a humanitarian right and should not be used as a pressure tool.”

A so-called peace plan by the US, a major ally of Saudi Arabia, has also been rejected by Yemenis.     

“What US Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking has presented, through the mediation of the Sultanate of Oman, is far away from reaching a desired and realistic level,” Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, a high-ranking member of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council, said in an interview with Russia’s RT Arabic television news network on Monday.

He added that Washington is still far from prospects of peace, and the latest US ceasefire plan is still a mere proposal and its text has not been produced yet.

On March 12, Lenderking said following a three-week trip to the region that a “sound plan” for a nationwide ceasefire in Yemen had been before Sana’a for “a number of days.”

In reaction, the spokesman for Ansarullah, Abdulsalam, also told al-Masirah TV that the American proposal for a nationwide ceasefire has nothing in it and represents the Saudi and the UN vision.

The American proposal doesn't include ceasing fire or breaking the siege, and it would lead to a resumption of a blockade, the spokesman added.

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