Is Yemen International Forum in Sweden a Real Attempt to Stop the War or a Bid to Gain Time?

Regional and international consultations and meetings continue to discuss the Yemeni crisis and bring together the conflict-related parties, sometimes under the auspices of the United Nations and at other times under the auspices of non-UN actors, in the Sultanate of Oman, Sweden, and Jordan.

In recent days and weeks, a series of meetings were held as discussion sessions and negotiations between representatives of the internationally recognized Yemeni government and the Iranian-backed Houthis.

In hasty steps, some see it as an indication of the imminent end of the war and the exclusion of the military option from the list of the Saudi-Emirati coalition that supports legitimacy in resolving the battle against the Iran-backed Houthi group after more than 7 years of stumbling and the overlap of regional and international projects.

 

New Consultation

The latest efforts to bring peace to war-torn Yemen were represented in a forum held in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, between 17-19 June 2022, in the presence of UN and US envoys and many Yemeni symbols from all sides.

The forum brought together more than 200 Yemeni and international figures, including diplomats, mediators, regional and international actors, representatives of the United Nations and international organizations, as well as many actors in Yemeni civil society, and was called the Yemen International Forum.

The forum, organized by the Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies (independent / based in Sana'a), in cooperation with the Folke Bernadotte Academy for peace, security, and development of Sweden (governmental), discussed files that included economic and security challenges, the integration of future fighters and the southern issue.

At the forum, Swedish Foreign Minister Anne Linde and UN envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg urged the participants to take advantage of the current truce to overcome obstacles and allow the peace-making process in Yemen to move forward.

The first edition of this forum was held in light of a UN-sponsored truce between the conflicting parties in the mainland, which entered into force in early April 2022.

Some believe that the forum is a media festival, which has no real value, as a group of media professionals, journalists, and activists were invited by the organizers in order to give the forum a consultative character.

Despite the importance of such meetings, they did not present any new additions related to the Yemeni issue and do not address the roots of the crisis, due to the absence of direct representatives of the components that imposed their control by force of arms, such as the Transitional Council and the Houthis, according to observers of the Yemeni crisis.

In this context, the journalist participating in the forum, Murad al-Arifi, said: “The Sana'a Center has been working on this project for a long time, it mainly targets peace initiatives and brings the Yemeni parties to the dialogue table again."

He added to Al-Estiklal, that "the forum targeted the leaders of the political parties, activists, and diplomats to formulate recommendations aimed at making peace one of the main pillars towards which the parties to the conflict are heading."

Al-Arifi explained that "the forum also dealt with the post-conflict phase, especially the economic and financial file, and how these recommendations can contribute to formulating programs that may alleviate the economic crisis, which was caused primarily by the financial and banking division between Sanaa and Aden."

Yet, the recommendations that came out of most of the consultations during the last period did not have any response or impact on the ground, and most of them remained trapped among the attendees, who do not have any actual decision to implement the outcomes of the meetings and consultations in light of the dependence on the outside.

 

Incomplete Dialogues

On the sidelines of the forum, side meetings were held that included experts and leaders in the financial and banking sector, and focused on the issues facing Yemeni banks and the private sector, and their negative repercussions on Yemenis, without the presence of representatives of the Houthis concerned in this matter.

The dynamic technical discussions addressed the Yemeni currency market and exchange rate variations, the challenges of lack of liquidity, enhancing compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorist financing measures, efforts to reconnect Yemen with international banks, and ways to address the public debt.

The closing day's sessions also included a briefing by the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator of the United Nations in Yemen, on the latest developments related to the dilapidated floating tanker SAFER, which poses an environmental threat to the Red Sea.

During these meetings, participants sought to reach a consensus on potential solutions and to make recommendations that could be taken forward by the various actors.

However, observers believe that all the activities that deal with the issue of peace in Yemen and are devoted to promoting dialogue between Yemenis include many parties, not including the Houthis, the party that triggered the war.

Yemeni writer Mustafa Naji described the event on June 21, as a revealing mirror of the approach of local actors, in reference to the Houthis and the Southern Transitional Council evading participation in the forum.

He said, in a tweet that "there is a congruence in the position between the Houthi and the transitional regarding the effectiveness of evading the confrontation of parties in society and engaging in discussions of genuine topics other than war and external interference."

In this forum, Naji added, "The United Nations evaded humanitarian entitlements, and the transitional and Houthi forces evaded confronting society and evaded service and legal entitlements."

He continued, "Yes, those affiliated with the Houthi and the transitional came. But it is not enough for their hearts to be with the separation or the Houthis, and the services they provided for these two years did not suffice them for anything."

Previous meetings were held by various Yemeni parties without the Houthis present, the most recent of which was Yemeni-Yemeni consultations hosted by Riyadh on March 29, 2022, in order to reach a ceasefire, as the Houthis refused to participate, calling for it to take place in a neutral country.

 

Remarkable Normalization

For his part, Yemeni writer and analyst Yassin al-Tamimi said, "Such meetings and forums continue to achieve the goal of normalization with the putschists, consolidate their authority, and transform the internationally recognized legitimate authority into one of the weakest parties to the conflict."

Al-Tamimi added in a Facebook post on June 19, “In contrast to the Stockholm conference that took place in late 2018, under the influence of the American bludgeon, which included the two sides of the conflict in Yemen and ended more than three years later by handing over Hodeidah to the Houthis, the so-called Yemen International Forum has no political weight."

He added that the forum "is not concerned with reaching agreements or understandings as much as it constitutes a link in a series of meetings, conferences, and seminars that were held by the same organizers, without reaching any result and was not able to make a qualitative leap in the peace track."

The war in Yemen is witnessing an unprecedented diplomatic movement, in an attempt to pressure for a political settlement and to take advantage of the truce, which is the first in nearly seven years.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, revealed in his last briefing to the Security Council, on June 14, 2022, his plan for the remainder of the armistice.

Grundberg said that he will pursue two lines of effort: First, to ensure that the truce elements are implemented and strengthened, including the opening of roads in Taiz and other provinces.

Second, he will plan to start negotiations on the economic and security tracks, and this work should be based on a political context and oriented toward a political settlement."

In a June 17 statement, the State Department affirmed that the United States supports opportunities that create space for Yemenis to meet in an organized and focused manner to build on UN-led peace efforts and diplomatic efforts to move toward a lasting solution to the conflict.

The statement indicated that, after his participation in the Stockholm Forum, the Special Envoy will head to the Omani capital, Muscat, to express his appreciation for the Omani government's support for the armistice and to discuss current efforts to implement its provisions.

It also discusses a permanent ceasefire and a comprehensive peace process that ends the war, meets the civil society's call for justice and accountability, and supports the stability of the Yemeni economy.