Yemen talks delay will only harm cause

A three-week break in the peace talks will guarantee pain for ordinary civilians

A man sits next to a street guard in his kiosk at the old quarter of Yemen's capital Sanaa (REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah)

Perhaps it was optimistic to expect six days of talks to end nine months of conflict. But the fact that peace negotiations between Yemen’s government forces and Houthi rebels took place at all seemed like a step forward. Now, after the talks in Switzerland broke up with no agreement – except a promise to keep talking in the new year – the worry is that more conflict is on the cards.

The two groups will return to the table on January 14. What will be the consequence of another – at least – three weeks of conflict? What price will be paid by ordinary Yemenis in lost limbs, lost lives, lost livelihoods? The Houthis have a great deal to answer for.

The longer this war has raged, the worse the situation of ordinary Yemenis has become. They, of course, have borne the consequences. The World Health Organisation has called the situation in Taez and much of the south “catastrophic”.

There is no certainty, of course, that the next three weeks will be marked by conflict. The Yemen foreign minister has said the ceasefire will continue for another week, and then will continue to be extended as long as the Houthi rebels abide by it. Based on previous experience, however, the Houthi rebels are likely to violate it. The ceasefire was violated even during the talks in Bern. Indeed, the Houthis have never completely abided by a ceasefire since this conflict began.

What that says about the rebel group is obvious; they have never genuinely cared for the people of the country. Since their emergence from their stronghold in the north, the Houthis have claimed to have only the best interests of Yemen and its people at heart. It was that claim that catapulted them to the capital Sanaa, where they remain dug in.

Yet every day the conflict has raged, that claim has become more hollow. There is no possible reading of the best interests of Yemen that would justify the Houthis having earlier marched south to the second city of Aden – let alone shelling it repeatedly. Nothing could justify the mass displacement of people, the destruction of large parts of major cities, or the opening such chaos has provided for Al Qaeda. Every day the Houthis have spent waging war, their claims have become more exposed for the sham they are. This war must end. That the Houthis insist on prolonging it shows who they consider the real enemy to be.