UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon is proposing a plan to beef up the UN mediation in Yemen to overcome deep differences in peace talks, according to a letter obtained by the media on Wednesday.
Ban outlined his proposal in a letter to the Security Council just before UN Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed delivered a report to the council’s 15 members on the peace talks he is leading in Kuwait.
“While both sides have committed to reaching agreements in Kuwait, there remain deep differences between the two sides which will need to be overcome in order to achieve a successful outcome,” Ban wrote.
He proposed expanding the staff of the UN peace mission to Yemen and moving it to Amman from New York to intensify the mediation.
The bigger UN team would provide technical expertise to the Yemeni parties on a range of issues, in particular on ways to shore up a ceasefire in force since April 10 that has led to a decrease but not a halt in attacks.
“The nationwide cessation of hostilities remains extremely fragile, and requires urgent additional support from the United Nations,” Ban wrote.
An upsurge in violence could “undermine the Kuwait talks and derail the progress towards greater stability and security,” he added.
Council members were to decide on Ban’s proposal by Thursday.
Speaking to the council by videoconference from Kuwait, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said progress was slow but steady in the talks, according to a diplomat at the closed session.
Ramadan beginning on June 6 is not a deadline for a breakthrough and that the parties must stay at the talks as long as it takes, the envoy said.
The latest round of peace talks began in Kuwait on April 21 but has been clouded by repeated walkouts by the government delegation.
Face-to-face meetings resumed on Monday for the first time in nearly a week.
The UN envoy said in a statement on Wednesday that the sides were moving “toward a general understanding that encompasses the expectations and visions of the parties.”
The main sticking point in the talks has been reaching agreement on the type of government that would oversee a transition.
Huthi Shiite rebels and their allies have demanded a unity government.
But the government delegation insists that the legitimacy of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi must be respected.
A western diplomat told a foreign media agency in Kuwait that the UN envoy had proposed a “national salvation government” that would be “consensual and inclusive.”
