All news

Lavrov calls on international community to encourage Yemeni factions to dialogue

The warring sides are not ready to face a constructive discussion, the Russian minister said

MOSCOW, March 3. /TASS/. The international community should continue encouraging parties to the conflict in Yemen to a dialogue, giving up is unacceptable in that issue, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Ethiopia’s The Reporter.

"Our position remains unchanged, and we see that putting an end to Yemen’s conflict featuring the "Arab coalition," may be possible exclusively in a dialogue, to respect interests of Yemen’s all political forces," the Russian minister said on Saturday.

"However, it would not be possible to restore national accord there in an instant," he continued. "The opposing parties have accumulated too many claims to each other, though sometimes they may be groundless."

"In the current situation, Yemen’s factions are not ready to face a constructive discussion of ways to overcome the contradictions, and this, in fact, is the main problem in context of the crisis’ settlement," the foreign minister said. "However, this should not be a reason to give up the attempts in this direction."

Moscow’s position is that the international community, and first of all the UN, "should continue encouraging Yemen’s protagonists to restrain from violence and get to the negotiations table."

"On our part, we will continue contributing to this work," the minister said. "We have been doing so from the beginning of the conflict in Yemen, we continue talking to everyone, on who developing the situation in Yemen towards peace could depend."

At the same time, the Russian side is undertaking practical steps "to offer humanitarian support to the suffering civilians in Yemen," Lavrov said. "We consider sending over there another humanitarian consignment soon."

Yemen conflict

The war between Yemen’s government, recognized by the global community, and the Houthi rebels has been raging since August 2014. The conflict entered an active phase when a Saudi-led coalition invaded the country. Saudi Arabia, supported by the air forces of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, is involved in a military operation against the rebels. Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Sudan are also part of the coalition.

According to the Yemeni Center for Human Rights and Development, in the first 800 days of bombings, more than 12,500 civilians were killed. The United Nations says that three-thirds of the Yemeni population - 22.2 million people - are in need of aid, while seven million are facing the risk of starvation.