UN Envoy continues internal tour in Yemen

The United Nations (UN) Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, is continuing his tour in Yemen to rally support for the roadmap he announced last December, amid fears that peace efforts could collapse due to the unrest in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden.

According to the Saba News Agency, Grundberg arrived in the government-controlled part of the city of Taiz today, which has been under siege by the Houthis for years, and met with Nabil Shamsan, the Governor of Taiz, to discuss the humanitarian situation and opening of roads in the governorate.

This followed the UN envoy’s visit to the coastal city of Mokha yesterday, where he met with Tariq Saleh, a member of the Presidential Leadership Council (PLC) and the commander of the Republic’s Guards, to discuss the peace efforts in Yemen and the Houthi escalation in the Red Sea, according to Saba.

On Saturday, Grundberg arrived in the capital, Aden, and met with the PLC Chairman, Rashad Al-Alimi, and the newly-appointed Prime Minister of Yemen, Ahmed bin Mubarak. Al-Alimi called on Grundberg to focus on the actions of the Houthis and not their words, referring to the restrictions they have placed on the movement of goods, as reported by Saba.

Grundberg's visit to Yemen is the latest in a series of wider diplomatic efforts in the region, the most recent of which was a visit to the UAE last Thursday, during which he met with UAE officials, the President of the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and PLC member Aidrous Al-Zubaidi.

Al-Zubaidi said that the STC supports efforts to bring peace, but pointed out that “the priority at the present time requires devoting efforts to deter the Houthi aggression and dispel its threats to international shipping lines due to its grave danger to the economy and food security in the country”, as published on their official website.

On February 4, Grundberg visited Tehran and met with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian and other Iranian officials. On January 24, Grundberg announced that he had met in Riyadh with the Saudi ambassador to Yemen and the ambassadors of the five permanent member states.

On January 9, he also visited Muscat and met with the chief Houthi negotiator, Mohammed Abdul Salam, and Omani officials.