US Special Envoy Tim Lenderking has called on the Houthis to seize what he described as an unprecedented “opportunity” to achieve peace in Yemen, and to sit with the Yemeni government to draw a prosperous future for the country.
Lenderking emphasized on Wednesday that the United States was working with the United Nations and regional partners to build an international and regional consensus to unify joint efforts and achieve the desired change in Yemen.
His remarks came at the end of a regional tour to give impetus to UN efforts to expand the truce and launch the peace process in the country.
Lenderking spoke during a video conference held on Wednesday evening about two priorities in the Yemeni crisis: achieving a permanent truce, and launching an intra-Yemeni dialogue to end the crisis.
“We urge the Houthis to seize this unprecedented opportunity and sit with the government to draw a prosperous future for Yemen. We are working to build an international and regional consensus to unify efforts. This is our priority to achieve the desired change in the country,” he stated.
On the economic side, the US envoy urged the parties to reach an agreement regarding the payment of employees’ salaries, noting that thousands of Yemenis have not received their money for years.
He continued: “We remain optimistic about achieving further progress towards peace, and it is the responsibility of the parties to the conflict to make a difficult settlement. We are committed to maintaining our efforts, and our goal is to support a stable and more prosperous Yemen.”
In response to a question about the impact of the recent Saudi-Iranian agreement on Yemen, Lenderking said: “Any plan to reduce escalation benefits the region.”
He underlining the need for Iran to “maintain its commitments that it gave to Saudi Arabia, limit arms smuggling to the Houthis, and support a political solution [in Yemen].”
