"Why Saudis Derailed Imminent Yemen Deal with Airstrikes"--WSJ Reporter on RNN

[KoKo]

Why Saudis Derailed Imminent Yemen Deal with Airstrikes

Wall Street Journal UN correspondent Joe Lauria discusses how a former UN envoy came forward with details of a power-sharing deal in Yemen and why Saudi Arabia would want to prevent that deal from becoming a reality. - April 28, 2015

Bio
Joe Lauria is an independent foreign affairs correspondent. He is The Wall Street Journal's United Nations correspondent and also reports for the Johannesburg Star. He has covered the UN for The Boston Globe, the Montreal Gazette, The Daily Telegraph and other publications. Joe was an investigative reporter for The Sunday Times of London and is the author of two books.

Full Transcripthttp://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13732

JESSICA DESVARIEUX, PRODUCER, TRNN: Welcome to The Real News Network. I'm Jessica Desvarieux in Baltimore.On Sunday war planes of the Saudi-led military coalition bombed targets in the capital of Yemen. This is part of an ongoing campaign against the rebel Houthi group, and now for the first time Saudi officials are saying that they will be shifting their focus from a military campaign against the Houthis and towards more political negotiations and humanitarian relief. But behind this story is another story that could have been emerging. A former UN envoy has come out saying that Yemen's warring political factions were on the verge of a power sharing deal when the Saudi-led air strikes began a month ago, derailing the negotiations.Now joining us to discuss all of this is our guest Joe Lauria, He is the United Nations correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, and he joins us now from New York.Thanks for being with us, Joe.

JOE LAURIA, UNITED NATIONS CORRESPONDENT, WALL STREET JOURNAL:

Thank you. Thank you very much.DESVARIEUX:

So Joe, you just co-wrote the piece: Former UN Envoy Says Yemen Political Deal was Close Before Saudi Airstrikes Began. Just explain to our viewers what your sources have been telling you about the potential political deal, and what did it include?

LAURIA: Well, my main source of course was Jamal Benomar, who until today was the UN's Special Representative in Yemen since four years ago, and his job was to bring the parties together to try to work out a deal that would lead to a unity government. And he had everyone on board on all points, he says, except for one point which was the role of the presidency in the transition going forward. And that was--of course, the president is President Hadi, and he disagreed with any dilution of his powers. What the other parties had suggested were that the would be either a presidential council of five and he would be the chairman, or a strong vice president that would weaken his powers.

That's what the Houthi in particular wanted.They were in occupation of this capital city of Sana'a while this negotiation was going on. It began this round on January 20th, and they had occupied the capital in September. And they were willing to withdraw their militias and have it replaced by a new national unity security force that the UN experts had prepared, and they were willing to do that if Hadi had agreed to dilute some of his powers. He hadn't done that. He then moved--the capital, he moved to Aden and set up a rival capital there. And at that point the Houthis said that they were not going to allow him to be the chairman of the council, but he could be one of the council members. So that was still alive. And then of course he asked for Saudi military intervention. And once the bombing began that was the end of the talks.That's the main thrust of the story, that Benomar was saying. They were close to a deal, and then the Saudi intervention, the bombing ended the negotiation and that's where we are today.



MUCH MORE TRANSCRIPT at:

http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=31&Itemid=74&jumival=13732

[bemildred]

1. Yes, it's essentially the same reaction as with the other Arab Spring revolts. nt