Al-Haj to Office Head of UN Envoy: Excluding the Cause of the South from the Negotiation Track will not be Conducive to Peace but Rather Pave the Way for Future Conflict-Prone Region

The Director of the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs (GDFA) of the Southern Transitional Council (STC), Dr. Saleh Mohsen Al-Haj, held on Thursday at the headquarters of GDFA a meeting with Mr. Edward Jackson, office head of the UN Special Envoy in the capital, Aden, through which they discussed the comprehensive political process.

During the meeting, which was attended by the Deputy Director of GDFA, Mr. Anis Al-Sharafi, and the political section of the Office of the UN Special Envoy in the capital, Aden, Dr. Al-Haj highlighted the important role of the international community in putting pressure on the Houthi militia to stop its military attacks and continued aggression, which resulted in dozens of martyrs and wounded civilians and heroes of the southern armed forces over recent weeks, in addition to obliging it to engage in the comprehensive political process without setting preconditions.

The Director of GDFA asserted that the STC made concessions to support international and regional endeavours and the success of the Riyadh Agreement and Consultations, warning that the cause of the South accepts no concession, postponement, or bypassing and that an attempt to exclude the cause of the people of the South from the course of the negotiation process will neither bring lasting solutions nor lead to sustainable peace for the entire region, but rather paves the way for future conflict-prone region.

Dr. Al-Haj called for accelerating progress towards reaching a solution and resolving all issues on the table of the political process, in particular the cause of the people of the South, in a way that fulfills the aspirations of the people of the South through the implementation of the relevant international resolutions in this regard, including developing a special negotiating framework for it in the negotiations of the political process.

Al-Haj exposed the office of the UN Special Envoy to the importance of supporting the South in combating terrorism, pointing to the presence of forces seeking to create chaos and destabilize the security and stability of the South by sending terrorist elements to certain areas of the South, as well as warning of the threat of exacerbating suffering due to the deteriorating economic, service, and humanitarian conditions in the South due to disrupting the political process.

The Director of GDAF also touched on the pursuit of the southern national dialogue, communication, and sitting with the southern components that did not participate in the consultative meeting, affirming the existence of understandings and consensus on many questions and issues with them and that the issue of dialogue always remains on the table to unify the South on a common position and goal.

For his part, Mr. Edward Jackson shed light on the concerted efforts of the United Nations and the Office of the UN Special Envoy to put the political process into action and work to implement all resolutions and commitments, including the negotiating framework, pointing out that the cause of the South is present in all the ongoing consultations.

Mr. Jackson stated that the United Nations seeks to find a way forward through confidence-building measures and that the political process should include all issues, praising the cooperation shown by the STC towards drawing up the political process and ongoing arrangements for peace.