MOSCOW, April 6. /TASS/. Russia has called on the Yemeni conflict sides to stop hostilities and return to the search for national conciliation ways, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"We call on all the sides — the Houthis and coalition that launches airstrikes on the Houthi positions, to stop violence," the minister said. "Civilian facilities are more often damaged and ordinary people suffer from these strikes. Everybody should stop fighting and return to the process for the achievement of national conciliation in Yemen," he said.
Lavrov also said that "certain steps to this end have been made earlier and welcomed." "We participated in the ‘Friends of Yemen’ group with the region’s countries and Western partners, but, perhaps, the implementation of these agreements was impeded by the desire of that ort other side not to build national unity, but get unilateral advantage within the framework of the settlement process," he said. "The sad mistakes should be taken into account, it is necessary to draw the lessons and re-launch a true national dialogue with all sides without exception."
"We are really capable of doing this," Lavrov said. "I’m certain that more and more states now understand the need of such process." On September 24, 2014 the Friends of Yemen group met within the framework of the 69th session of the UN General Assembly and expressed support to the political process and reform policy in Yemen. The country’s political forces were strongly urged to abstain from the use of force to attain their goals.
According to the foreign minister, Russia "is in contact with various forces in the region, including representative of the president and opposition." "We maintain contact with our partners un Saudi Arabia that help ensure security of each flight [of Russian planes to Yemen]," Lavrov said. "This is so far done in a manual mode. We have managed to avoid any unpleasant incidents so far."
"I hope these efforts — we are not alone to take them — will be successful," Lavrov said.