RIYADH: As Riyadh prepares to host a conference on southern Yemen as part of its push for a comprehensive political solution, Yemen’s deputy foreign minister, Mustafa Noman, said he is confident the southern cause will be resolved justly.
That confidence, he said, stems from Saudi Arabia’s efforts to steer the issue away from political tensions and armed conflict and toward dialogue aimed at resolving longstanding disputes.
“This is what the Saudi government is doing now,” Noman said during an appearance on the Arab News flagship talkshow “Frankly Speaking.” “They are calling all the major personalities — but as independents; there will be no entities.”
He said the southern question cannot be settled through force, stressing that conference participants will attend in their personal capacities and must ultimately engage with broader Yemeni stakeholders.
“Everybody is going as an independent personality in this conference,” he said. “And they will discuss between themselves, and whatever they achieve, whatever they agree upon, they will have (to) come and sit with the other Yemeni partners in this place. They cannot do it alone. They cannot force it.”
