For
Yemen Talks
May 28, UN Has
OIC &
Children's
Parliament,
Drops P&PA
By
Matthew
Russell Lee,
Exclusive
UNITED
NATIONS, May
23, updated --
The UN's
bungling of
Yemen
mediation has
become ever
more clear,
according to
multiple
sources and
documents
exclusively
seen by Inner
City Press.
First the UN
allowed US
Secretary of
State John
Kerry to tell
it not to dare
hold Yemen
talks in
Geneva on May
11 as the UN
had planned,
as Inner City
Press exclusively
reported on
May 6.
Now the May 28
talks in
Geneva,
conveniently
after the
Houthi-less
talks in
Riyadh, will
be stacked in
ways both
pro-Saudi and
laughable,
sources tell
Inner City
Press.
New
Saudi-picked
"UN" envoy
Ismael Ould
Cheikh Ahmed,
who appeared
on the podium
in Riyadh, has
dropped from
the list of
documents on
which the May
28 talks are
based the
Peace and
Partnership
Agreement that
all Yemeni
political
parties agreed
to on
September 21,
2014.
The reason?
Saudi Arabia
doesn't like
what was
agreed to at
that time: it
created
obligations
not only for
the Houthis
but also for
Hadi. So it is
gone.
Update:
and now, at
least for now,
so is Hadi. Despite
the May 28
talks being
Saudi dominated,
Hadi says he
won't go unless
Security Council
resolution
2216 is "fully
implemented."
And about
about the Peace
and
Partnership Agreement
that he signed
but didn't
implement?
We'll have
more on this.
Slated for
attendance on
May 28 are the
Saudi-led
Organization
of the Islamic
Conference,
the Gulf
Cooperation
Council
currently
headed by
Bahrain and
GCC
Secretary-General
Abdullatif
Al-Zayani -
but notably
not Iran. The
number of
seats for the
Houthis will
be limited.
Who else is
slated to go?
Causing
laughter in
diplomatic
circle and in
Yemen where it
is sorely
needed, Cheikh
Ahmed is
angling to fly
in the
so-called
Children's
Parliament
organized by
an NGO in
Yemen, as well
as their
parents and
guardians.
"Who is paying
for this?" one
source
demanded of
Inner City
Press.
This last step
is blamed by
the sources on
Cheikh Ahmed
having little
political
background.
Inner City
Press has
already
reported on
his failure
while
previously in
Yemen to
protect UN
staff --
failure to
pick up the
armored
vehicles from
the airport or
have the
recommended
security
detail with
staff going to
the airport,
leading to the
long
kidnapping of
a UNICEF
staffer.
But
even at
UNICEF, Cheikh
Ahmed was in
human
resources, not
substantive
policy. And
the Press
questions
about his
fishing
business and
its funders
remain
UNanswered.
We'll have
more on this.
For now, this:
Inner City
Press is
informed that
after Cheikh
Ahmed's quick
visit to Iran,
he was
summoned back
to Riyadh and,
highly
irregular for
the UN, went
without his
policy "team,"
not even a
note-taker.
What might
have been
discussed?
The UN, we
note,
routinely
refuses to
answer Press
questions.
Back on April
29, Inner City
Press asked
the UN's
deputy
spokesperson
to confirm
that the UN
was
considering
Geneva as a
venue to
continue Yemen
talks, after
its previous
envoy Jamal
Benomar
resigned in
protest of
Saudi
airstrikes and
was replaced
by a more
amenable
envoy, Ismael
Ould Cheikh
Ahmed.
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