The US thanks Saudi Arabia for its participation in the negotiations for the end of the war in Yemen

12 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –

The United States government has thanked the Saudi authorities for their participation in the ongoing negotiations to end the 2015 war in Yemen.

The United States National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, spoke on Tuesday with the Crown Prince and Prime Minister of Saudi Arabia, Mohamed bin Salmán, with whom he highlighted “the remarkable progress made in Yemen in the last year, during which The fighting has almost ceased in the framework of a truce brokered by the United Nations”.

Sullivan has indicated before Salmán that Washington has welcomed “with satisfaction the extraordinary efforts of Saudi Arabia to achieve a more comprehensive road map to end the war”, offering “the full support of the United States to the efforts”.

In this sense, the United States special envoy for Yemen, Tim Lenderking, will visit the Gulf, where “he will meet with Yemeni, Saudi and international partners to discuss the necessary steps to ensure a lasting ceasefire and an inclusive political process mediated by the ONU”.

“After more than a year of intense diplomatic efforts by the United States and the UN, and the support of regional partners such as Saudi Arabia and Oman, Yemen is witnessing an unprecedented opportunity for peace,” reads a statement from the State Department, which He maintains that the truce — which began in April 2022 — “laid the foundations for renewing peace efforts.”

Lenderking will defend that this truce “guarantees the continuous efforts to alleviate the economic crisis and the suffering of the Yemenis”. “In the future, only the Yemeni parties can bring lasting peace and shape a brighter future for their country,” a State Department spokesperson added.

Over the weekend, a delegation of representatives from Saudi Arabia and Oman arrived in the Yemeni capital, Sanaa, to discuss with the leaders of the Huthi insurgency the possibility of launching a peace process, at a turning point given that Riyadh is the great ally of the Yemeni government recognized by the international community in the fight against the Houthis, backed by Iran.

The war in Yemen has ended up plunging what was one of the poorest countries in the world into the worst humanitarian catastrophe at present, according to the United Nations. More than 21 million Yemenis – two thirds of the population – will need humanitarian aid this year and 17 million of them will need to receive it urgently to survive.

The conflict has left almost 380,000 dead -more than 85,000 of them children-, either due to the fighting or hunger and disease, to which four million displaced people must be added, according to data considered by the agencies of the UN.