US Envoy to Yemen Tim Lenderking has intensified his meetings with Gulf, Saudi and Yemeni officials, with the aim to support the efforts of UN Envoy Hans Grundberg to consolidate the truce and launch a comprehensive political process.
In this context, the Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Nayef Al-Hajraf, called on the international community to support the Yemeni Leadership Council and intensify pressure on the Houthis, in order to achieve security and peace in Yemen, and to engage in a political solution to the crisis in accordance with UN references.
His comments came during a meeting with Lenderking on Monday in Riyadh, as part of the US envoy’s tour in the region.
The two sides underlined the need to support all international efforts to enhance the security, stability and peace of Yemen, and to consolidate the truce announced by the UN special envoy.
Also on Monday, the ambassador of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to Yemen, the supervisor of the Saudi Program for the Development and Reconstruction, Mohammad bin Saeed Al Jaber, met in Riyadh with Lenderking, in the presence of US Ambassador to Yemen Steven Fagin.
The Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported that the meeting stressed the importance of maintaining the UN-sponsored truce, and the need to reopen the roads leading to Taiz to alleviate human suffering.
They two sides emphasized the need to reach a permanent ceasefire in Yemen in order to launch the political process between the Yemeni government and the Houthis.
The head of the Yemeni Presidential Leadership Council, Rashad Al-Alimi, received at his residence in Riyadh the US envoy and Fagin to discuss the latest developments in the country and the international efforts coordinated with the United Nations to revive the peace track.
Saba news agency quoted Lenderking as praising “the recent exceptional presidential and government decisions that included facilitating the entry of oil derivatives ships to the ports of Hodeidah despite the Houthi militia’s obstacles…”
Lenderking also underlined the United States’ keenness to “support the reforms led by the Presidential Leadership Council and the government,” official Yemeni sources reported.
