Yemen – Inter-Yemeni talks (5 December 2018)

France welcomes the beginning of inter-Yemeni talks between representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthis; they are being held in Stockholm under the auspices of UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, for whom France reiterates its full support. It welcomes the commitment of the Yemeni parties and the trust-building measures taken in recent days that made this meeting possible. It thanks the Swedish government for hosting it.

These talks must facilitate a political solution, the only way to achieve a lasting peace, to ease the humanitarian suffering of the Yemeni people, and to ensure the peninsula’s stability. They are therefore an important milestone.

Yemen is currently facing a triple food, humanitarian and health crisis that threatens to turn into a widespread famine. Given the urgency of this situation, France is asking the parties to take part in these talks in good faith, and is asking all Yemeni and regional stakeholders to assume their responsibilities and create the military and humanitarian conditions on the ground enabling these discussions to succeed. In particular, this requires a cessation of hostilities, the full opening of the port of Hodeidah to humanitarian and commercial traffic, and the restoration of humanitarian access.

With this goal in mind, France has had productive discussions with the nations in the region in recent weeks. Working with its allies and all of its regional interlocutors, France will continue to mobilize all its efforts in support of the UN mediation effort.