Yemenis Want Peace

As the second round of Yemen negotiations approaches, we, the undersigned, appeal to the participants from both sides to reach a peace agreement that puts an end to the devastating war in Yemen.

Yemeni men, women, and children are living through the worst and most violent period of their recent history. During the past few months, more than 6 thousand Yemenis were killed and over 26 thousand injured, with the majority in both cases being civilians. Since March, more than 2 million Yemenis have been displaced from their homes; more than six million Yemenis have been left on the brink of famine. More than 20 million Yemenis--80% of the population--are in desperate need for water, food, fuel, medical supplies, education, and security. Every day, more and more fall victim to military operations, terrorist attacks, or crime caused by the absence of security.

In short, the ongoing war in Yemen has brought the suffering of Yemenis to unprecedented levels.

Therefore,

We call upon Abdulmalik Al-Houthi, the leader of Ansarullah movement, and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, to stop the fighting, and end the targeting of civilians, civilian infrastructure, and heavily populated areas. We also call upon them to lift their blockade on urban areas, and allow the free movement of humanitarian assistance and commercial shipments to all areas of Yemen.

We call upon the Yemeni government and the countries of the Arab Coalition and their allies to stop the indiscriminate targeting of civilians, civilian infrastructure, and heavily populated areas. We call upon them to accelerate humanitarian relief efforts, and to lift the blockade on Yemen, which is only causing the suffering of millions of Yemeni men and women and their hungry children.

We also call upon the countries of the Arab Coalition under the leadership of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the five permanent members of the Security Council, and the international community at large, to use the convening of the second round of negotiations as an opportunity to reconsider the military option in Yemen and to seriously push towards a tangible peace settlement.

The continued cycle of violence, terrorism and wars in Yemen has caused Yemeni men and women to lose their confidence in the local, regional and international political players and their commitments to working towards peace and stability in Yemen. However, there is still hope that the different parties would offer difficult concessions in the upcoming negotiations to achieve a sustainable and permanent peace agreement. Reaching a peace settlement is the only way to regain the trust of Yemenis and satisfy their aspirations in resuming their lives and reconstructing what the war has destroyed.

Reaching a peace agreement in Yemen will not only reflect on the lives of Yemenis, but will also limit the ability of extremist organizations to expand and target innocents everywhere. Leaving nations like Yemen and Syria in a state of unresolved anarchy will keep the world vulnerable to successive crises similar to the refugees crises, and will create a fertile environment for extremist and terrorist organizations to plot and launch terrorist attacks, as we have most recently seen in Paris.

We therefore call on the United Nations and the international community to exert more efforts in order to facilitate the brokering of a peace agreement to implement UN Security Council resolution 2216. We call on people in Yemen, the region and the world at large to put more pressure on their representatives, officials, and governments to participate in serious actions to end the ongoing bloodshed in Yemen.

Farea Al-Muslimi - Visiting Scholar at Carnegie Middle East Centre
Rafat Al-Akhali - Ex-Minister of Youth & Sports
Amatalalim Al-Soswa - Ex-Minister of Human Rights and Ex-Assistant UN Secretary General
Wameeth Shaker - Writer and Researcher
Abdulghani Al-Eryani - Independent Analyst
Abdulbari Taher - Ex-head of Yemeni Journalists Syndicate
Jamila Ali Raja - Political Analyst, Director of Consult-Yemen
Ammar Al-Aulaqi - Political Activist
Hafez Al-Bukari - Executive Director of Yemen Polling Centre
Bushra Al-Maktari - Writer
Kareem Al-Hinki - Poet
Mohammed Azzan - Islamic Thinker
Shatha Al-Harazi - Political Activist, Member of National Dialogue Conference
Mostapha Noman - Diplomat, Ex-Ambassador to Canada, India, and Spain
Fahmi Al-Sakaf - Writer and Political Activist, Member of National Dialogue Conference
Faizah Al-Sulaimani - Social Activist
Maged Al-Madhaji - Executive Director of Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies
Hussein al-Waday - Writer and Researcher
Khaldoun Bakuhail - Youth Activist
Nabil Subai - Journalist
Muhammed Al-Absi - Journalist
Maysaa Shuaj Aldeen - writer and researcher
Hashem Al-Abarah - Youth political activist