Alwaght - Lebanese
Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri says his country is prepared to host
negotiations among representatives from all parties involved in the Yemeni
crisis, describing dialogue as the only way to end the conflict.
"I suggested lately that the
Sultanate of Oman takes the initiative to propose a solution to the Yemeni
crisis, as the Sultanate is on good terms with the various Yemeni
parties," Berri said in an exclusive interview with the Arab daily, al-Sharq al-Awsat, published
on Friday.
He added, "The crisis in Yemen
would endanger the security of the (Persian) Gulf, and this is what we all want
to avoid as any further escalation could lead to the unknown."
"In case Oman is refused by any of
the parties as the venue for the talks, we welcome them in Lebanon. Let
them engage in dialogue anywhere, in Riyadh, Muscat or Algiers, or even let
them go to Geneva. The important thing is they engage in dialogue, save
Yemen and preserve its unity,” the senior Lebanese official further noted.
The remarks come as Saudi Arabia goes
ahead with its aerial attacks against members of the Houthi Ansarullah
movement in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia’s air campaign in Yemen
started on March 26 in a bid to restore power to fugitive former Yemeni
president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.
Hadi stepped down in January and
refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by the Houthi Ansarullah movement.
On March 25, the embattled president
fled Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base, to Riyadh after
Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced on Aden.
The Ansarullah fighters took control of
Sana’a in September 2014 and are currently moving southward. The
revolutionaries said the Hadi government was incapable of properly running the
affairs of the country and containing the growing wave of corruption and
terror.
The UN says at least 519 people,
including women and children, have so far lost their lives in two weeks of
violence in Yemen.
UN Under-Secretary General for
Humanitarian Affairs Valerie Amos said in a statement on Thursday that 1,700
people have been also wounded during clashes between rival groups in Yemen
and in the Saudi strikes against the country.
She further noted that 90 children were among the victims of the violence.
