UN Envoy to Yemen arrived in Saudi to meet with officials

UN Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is expected to arrive in Saudi Arabia on Saturday to meet with Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi and ministers in the Yemeni government, to present highlights of his new initiative for a political solution in the war-torn country.

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdul Malek al-Mekhlafi told Asharq al-Awsat that during the upcoming meetings, the government would only listen to Ould Cheikh’s ideas then agree on the next measures to be taken. He noted that the government had not received any details about the new initiative.

He also said that the UN envoy would meet during his visit to Saudi Arabia with the ambassadors of the permanent members of the Security Council, and would hold another round of meetings with the Saudi side, noting that talks would focus on the new ideas for the solution in Yemen.

Yemeni sources said that optimism of Yemeni political leaders and the public opinion with the ability of the United Nations to reach a solution to the crisis is gradually diminishing in light of the failure of many previous initiatives and proposals, the latest of which was putting the port of Hodeidah under UN administration and lifting the siege on Taiz.

The UN envoy’s visit to Saudi Arabia comes two weeks after the UN issued its annual report on the situation of children in armed conflicts, in which it accused the Saudi-led coalition of breaching children’s rights in Yemen.

The report was met with a wave of international condemnation for containing inaccurate information and figures, which were based on unreliable sources. This issue will also be tackled during Hadi’s meeting with Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

On the other hand, Yemeni Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior General Hussein Arab uncovered on Friday that his ministry seized large quantities of dangerous weapons in several southern Yemeni cities, adding that extremist terrorist groups had brought and hidden those arms in a number of residential units, which were later transformed into armed caches.

The interior minister did not say where those depots were specifically located and how many people were involved in the operation. However, General Arab told Asharq Al-Awsat there were large quantities of seized weapons that could destroy vast areas.

He said the terrorists “set the target and the type of weapons that should be used… If the target is a vast area, they increase the explosives to produce the highest damages.” The interior minister said that investigations revealed the presence of several dormant cells, directly supported by rebels in Sana’a with an aim to incite security imbalance and to disrupt the Yemeni community.

The Yemeni security apparatuses are ready to face those threats and would use all means to uncover the terrorists’ plots, he said. The minister added that “employees at the Yemeni Interior Ministry launch their investigations based on available information… Accordingly, they conduct dawn raids after they verify that those given information confirm the presence of threatening weapons.”

The seizure of the arms depots comes few days after the Interior Ministry was capable to arrest several Qaeda-affiliated members and groups loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The ministry also uncovered their plans to target critical sites in areas previously liberated by the legitimate government.

Arab said the security apparatus in Yemen was coordinating with all concerned parties in neighboring countries to share information related to those terrorist groups. In mid-August, the Yemeni Interior Ministry was capable to arrest terrorist groups that were directly financed by Tehran.