Source: CCTV news client
In March 2015, large-scale fighting began in Yemen. During this period, under the mediation of the United Nations, the warring parties reached ceasefire agreements on several occasions. In December, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, announced that, after engaging with the parties, a road map would be developed under the auspices of the United Nations that would encompass the commitments of all parties, including a nationwide ceasefire, public sector salaries, the resumption of oil exports, and further easing restrictions on Yemen's Sana'a airport and Hodeidah port.
According to Yemeni government officials, the roadmap, which was expected to be signed in Saudi Arabia in January, was not materialized due to tensions triggered by the conflict in Gaza.
Recently, Hans Grundberg said in an exclusive interview with a reporter from the main station in Amman, the capital of Jordan, that the plan is still progressing steadily, but it still needs the joint efforts of many parties, and the Yemen peace roadmap has a long way to go.
Hans Grundberg said that in the context of the development of the conflict in Yemen, the development of a roadmap for peace in Yemen is a serious progress that should not be overlooked. All parties need to do everything in their power to ensure that this progress can be advanced and that the breakthrough needed by the Yemeni people can be achieved.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg: In order to make this progress, I think there are three things that are absolutely decisive in the current complex situation. The first is the need for broader stability in the Middle East, which will also refocus and recommit the parties and the international community to a long-term solution to the conflict in Yemen. At the same time, I think it is equally important that this is not the time for the parties to use the current situation to escalate the situation in Yemen, we need to maintain stability in Yemen, we need to cease hostilities, we need to maintain that stability while we try to make progress and breakthroughs. In the end, I think that if we want to make sure that we can achieve the goals that we set, the channels of communication that are already open and wider need to be kept as open as possible.
Zhu Yunxiang: As the [UN] Secretary-General's Special Envoy for Yemen, your work focuses on mediation and facilitating dialogue between the parties concerned. What are the key factors that facilitate this process?
Hans Grundberg, UN Special Envoy for Yemen: Flexibility is needed if we are to achieve results in the changing circumstances that we face today. We are faced with a situation where the possibility of long-term planning in the Middle East is being complicated by the instability that we are seeing. I believe that if we want to achieve real results, we have to take a flexible approach, understand the situation we are in and address it in a flexible way, and it is necessary to develop a long-term approach.
Hans Grundberg said that a political solution to the Yemeni problem requires not only the support of the international community, but also the courage of the parties to the conflict themselves, not to let the current situation affect the commitments they have made, but to maintain them and move forward in the direction of the progress that has been made.
Hans Grundberg, UN Special Envoy for Yemen: This is not the time for a zero-sum game or a short-term tactical game, it's a time to take a long-term strategy, this is the time to make courageous decisions, and I think that's absolutely needed.