The Friends of South Yemen have put together this road map for the end of the civil war in Yemen. Recommending an initial ceasefire and revision to the current power sharing government, the FOSY’s three stage plan may be of interest to our readers. The proposal is their own and not one that is endorsed by all sides. They asked us to share it with you:
Since the Southern Transitional Council (STC) and the Internationally Recognised Government (IRG) formed an agreement in January to combine their forces to fight the Houthi government that controls most of Yemen, the people of Yemen have continued to suffer as the current government fails to recognise and respond to their needs. The government has not announced its political and economic programme whilst Yemen’s riyal depreciated to a record low in June, and salaries of government employees and pensions, including those of army veterans, are still unpaid. This is all against the backdrop of a country with few functioning essential services and infrastructure such as water and electricity, and frequent human rights violations.
To further complicate matters, the STC has since suspended contact with the IRG two days ago in protest against violence by the Muslim Brotherhood in the south-east, undermining the Saudi-engineered Riyadh agreement that was brokered more than a year ago. As of last Saturday, fighting has also increased in the gas-rich Marib region, further exacerbating Yemen’s acute humanitarian crisis.
The Chairman of FOSY, Dr Abdul Galil Shaif, has described the political climate as a ‘festering cesspool’. He calls for public services and infrastructure to be immediately improved, and for the economy to be developed such that the impulse for destruction lessens. Yemen’s leaders must begin to build, not destroy.
For those that are especially interested in the subject, the NCF has a session on the Yemen crisis at 3 pm London time on Tuesday July 13th as part of a week long conference. If you wish to attend that session, or indeed the conference as a whole, please find further details on this link.
The Arabic version of the FOSY’s roadmap can be found below:
