Yemeni government is adhering to the peace process, Yemeni FM says

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalik Al-Makhlafi said Friday that the Yemeni government is adhering to the peace process and is ready to go back to the table to bring peace to Yemen as soon as possible and to save the people from more suffering.

"But the positive position of the government does not get any response by the revolutionaries who are still refusing the demands for peace or to accept any international peace efforts," he told the Kuwait news agency, KUNA, in an exclusive interview at the end of his visit to Brussels.

Al-Mekhlafi said they went "to our brotherly country Kuwait" which hosted the meeting for four months last year. "After the consultations the UN envoy presented the draft agreement and we signed it but the other side did not sign it," he noted.

"But after we left Kuwait and till now the revolutionaries did not undertake any steps proposed by the UN envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. We regret that peace is on hold due the desire of the revolutionaries to continue the war," he said.

Al Makhlafi said that the government would continue to call for peace and hopes that the international pressures and defeats that the revolutionaries have suffered until now will make them respond to the peace efforts.

"We were hoping to return again to Kuwait for the talks and our Kuwaiti brothers welcomed the return of the two delegation in Kuwait in order to sign the agreement," he noted.

The Yemeni foreign minister expressed his deep appreciation and thanks to HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, to the Kuwait government and to HE the first deputy prime minister and foreign minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah who exerted great efforts during the Kuwait meetings.

"We look forward to return to Kuwait, and our brothers in Kuwait are rightly saying that we will welcome you if you sign the agreement and not to waste time. But it appears that the revolutionaries are not ready to respond to this step," he said.

Al Meahlafi said he visited Brussels for two-days of talks with the Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders, European Commission officials and Members of the European Parliament to explain the situation in Yemen and seek support for the Yemeni government's peace efforts.

He said the Yemeni government seeks peace based on the three references, the Gulf initiative, the outputs of the national dialogue, and the Security Council resolutions on Yemen, including resolution 2216.

The Yemeni foreign minister called on the EU to condemn the revolution and the Iranian interference in Yemen, which is sending arms to the Houthi militias.

He also expressed his thanks to the EU for their humanitarian aid and for pledging the amount of 116 million euro (USD 127 mn) during the UN-sponsored donors conference on Yemen held recently in Geneva.