RIYADH: After representatives of the Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC) discussed an agreement to resolve their differences in a peaceful manner, Saudi Arabia has called on both parties “to respond urgently.”
The two sides met in the Saudi capital on Thursday to resume talks on what is known as the Riyadh Initiative, which Yemen and the STC signed in 2019. It obliges all parties to accept political solutions and end the violence that erupted in Yemen earlier that year.
Thursday’s meeting was a continuation of the Kingdom’s efforts to achieve security and stability in Yemen and “to push all parties to accept political solutions instead of disputes and quarrels,” the Saudi Press Agency said in a statement.
Yemen and the STC agreed to stop all forms of political, military, security, economic, social, and media escalation, according to a mechanism agreed upon in 2019 to halt the fighting.
Saudi Arabia called on the parties that signed the Riyadh Agreement “to respond urgently to what has been agreed upon, reject disagreements, work with the agreed mechanism, and prioritize implementing the remaining provisions of the agreement.”
Saudi Arabia also noted that recent acts by the Southern Transitional Council (STC), including political and media escalation and political and military appointments, were inconsistent with what was agreed upon between the two parties.
The Kingdom said that the return of the Yemeni government formed in accordance with the Riyadh Agreement is a top priority. It reiterated its continued support for Yemen and its stability as a country and its its continued support for the Yemeni government led by President Abed Rabbu Mansur Hadi.
The Southern Transitional Council had been fighting alongside Hadi’s legitimate government since 2015 against the Iran-backed Houthi militia, which seized the capital Sanaa and some parts of Yemen in a coup launched in 2014.
In late 2019, however, the pro-independence STC purged the Hadi government from Aden, its temporary seat of power, following fierce clashes.
To help defuse the tension, Saudi Arabia helped broker a power-sharing agreement between the two sides.
Nayef Al-Hajraf, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), called on the parties to respond to Saudi Arabia’s efforts and implement the provisions of the agreement.
He stressed the need to work with the agreed mechanism and give priority to the public interest.
“It is vital to unite the ranks of the various segments of the Yemeni people, prevent bloodshed, and support efforts to reach a comprehensive political solution that ends the crisis in Yemen,” Al-Hajraf said.
The secretary-general praised the efforts made by Saudi Arabia in supporting Yemen along with its keenness to bring the Riyadh Agreement parties together to follow up on their commitments.
The Arab Parliament praised Saudi Arabia’s urgent call for the two sides to implement the provisions of the agreement and stop all forms of escalation.
It said in a statement that the call comes as an extension of the Kingdom’s “unremitting efforts and keenness to maintain consensus between the two sides, with the aim of achieving security and stability in Yemen, and unifying efforts to restore the legitimate state institutions and confront the Houthi militia.”
Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Dr. Yousef bin Ahmed Al-Othaimeen, welcomed the Kingdom’s invitation to the parties to the Riyadh Agreement to respond urgently to the mechanisms.
He also urged the two parties to stop all forms of escalation.
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Saudi Arabia calls on Yemen, Southern Transitional Council ‘to respond urgently’ to Riyadh Initiative
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Saudi Arabia calls on Yemen, Southern Transitional Council ‘to respond urgently’ to Riyadh Initiative
- Two sides met in the Saudi capital on Thursday to resume talks on the Riyadh Initiative, which Yemen and STC signed in 2019
- Meeting was a continuation of the Kingdom’s efforts to achieve stability in Yemen and ‘push all parties to accept political solutions’
In Sudan’s old port of Suakin, dreams of a tourism revival
- Inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned
SUAKIN, Sudan: The mayor of Suakin dreams of a rebirth for his town, an ancient Red Sea port spared by the wars that have marked Sudan’s history but reduced to ruins by the ravages of time.
“It was called the ‘White City’,” for its unique buildings made of coral stone taken from the seabed, said mayor Abu Mohamed El-Amin Artega, who is also the leader of the Artega tribe, part of eastern Sudan’s Beja ethnic group.
Now the once-booming port and tourist draw languishes on the water, effectively forgotten for years as Sudan remains mired in a devastating war between the army and paramilitary forces.
But inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned.
“Before the war, a lot of people came, a lot of tourists,” said Ahmed Bushra, an engineer with the association Safeguarding Sudan’s Living Heritage from Conflict and Climate Change (SSLH).
“We hope in the future, when peace comes to Sudan, they will come and enjoy our beautiful historic buildings here,” he told AFP.
Architecture student Doha Abdelaziz Mohamed is part of the crew bringing the mosque back to life with funding from the British Council and support from UNESCO.
“When I came here, I was stunned by the architecture,” the 23-year-old said.
The builders “used techniques that are no longer employed today,” she told AFP. “We are here to keep our people’s heritage.”
Abandoned
The ancient port — set on an oval island nestled within a lagoon — served for centuries as a transit point for merchant caravans, Muslim and Christian pilgrims traveling to Makkah and Jerusalem, and the regional slave trade, according to the Rome-based heritage institute ICCROM.
It became a vibrant crossroads under the Ottoman Empire, said Artega, 55, and its population grew to around 25,000 as a construction boom took off.
“The streets were so crowded that, as our forefathers said, you could hardly move.”
Everything changed in 1905, when the British built a deeper commercial port 60 kilometers (37 miles) north, to accommodate increased maritime traffic with the opening of the Suez Canal.
“Merchants and residents moved to Port Sudan,” the mayor said, lamenting the decline of what he calls “Sudan’s great treasure.”
But his Artega tribe, which has administered the city since the sixth century with powers “passed from father to son,” refused to leave.
His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: “You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen — you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us.”
As proof of the Artega’s influence, he keeps at home what he says are swords and uniforms gifted to his ancestors by Queen Victoria during the British colonial period.
The rise of Port Sudan spelled disaster for Suakin, whose grand public buildings and elegant coral townhouses were left to decay, slowly eaten away by the humid winds and summer heat.
But the 1990s brought new hope, with the opening of a new passenger port linking Suakin to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Today, the Sudanese transport company Tarco operates daily crossings, carrying around 200 passengers per trip from the modern port of Suakin, within sight of the ancient city and its impoverished environs.
Lease to Turkiye
The city’s optimism grew in 2017 when then-president Omar Al-Bashir granted the old port to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under a 99-year lease for touristic development.
A Turkish company restored the old governor’s palace, customs house and two mosques, but the project stalled in 2019 after Bashir fell from power in the face of mass protests.
Then, in April 2023, the cruise passengers and scuba divers who once stopped in Suakin completely vanished when fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
A rusting cargo ship now lies stranded on a sandbank in the blue lagoon, where only a handful of fishing boats float around.
But Bushra, from SSLH, remains optimistic. He hopes to see the mosque, which houses the tomb of a Sufi sheikh, host a traditional music festival when the renovation is complete, “in five months.”
“When we finish the restoration, the tourists can come here,” he said.
“It was called the ‘White City’,” for its unique buildings made of coral stone taken from the seabed, said mayor Abu Mohamed El-Amin Artega, who is also the leader of the Artega tribe, part of eastern Sudan’s Beja ethnic group.
Now the once-booming port and tourist draw languishes on the water, effectively forgotten for years as Sudan remains mired in a devastating war between the army and paramilitary forces.
But inside the ruins of a mosque, a restoration crew is hard at work rebuilding this piece of Suakin, over a century after the city was abandoned.
“Before the war, a lot of people came, a lot of tourists,” said Ahmed Bushra, an engineer with the association Safeguarding Sudan’s Living Heritage from Conflict and Climate Change (SSLH).
“We hope in the future, when peace comes to Sudan, they will come and enjoy our beautiful historic buildings here,” he told AFP.
Architecture student Doha Abdelaziz Mohamed is part of the crew bringing the mosque back to life with funding from the British Council and support from UNESCO.
“When I came here, I was stunned by the architecture,” the 23-year-old said.
The builders “used techniques that are no longer employed today,” she told AFP. “We are here to keep our people’s heritage.”
Abandoned
The ancient port — set on an oval island nestled within a lagoon — served for centuries as a transit point for merchant caravans, Muslim and Christian pilgrims traveling to Makkah and Jerusalem, and the regional slave trade, according to the Rome-based heritage institute ICCROM.
It became a vibrant crossroads under the Ottoman Empire, said Artega, 55, and its population grew to around 25,000 as a construction boom took off.
“The streets were so crowded that, as our forefathers said, you could hardly move.”
Everything changed in 1905, when the British built a deeper commercial port 60 kilometers (37 miles) north, to accommodate increased maritime traffic with the opening of the Suez Canal.
“Merchants and residents moved to Port Sudan,” the mayor said, lamenting the decline of what he calls “Sudan’s great treasure.”
But his Artega tribe, which has administered the city since the sixth century with powers “passed from father to son,” refused to leave.
His ancestor, he said, scolded the British: “You found a port as prosperous as a fine hen — you took its eggs, plucked its feathers and now you spit its bones back at us.”
As proof of the Artega’s influence, he keeps at home what he says are swords and uniforms gifted to his ancestors by Queen Victoria during the British colonial period.
The rise of Port Sudan spelled disaster for Suakin, whose grand public buildings and elegant coral townhouses were left to decay, slowly eaten away by the humid winds and summer heat.
But the 1990s brought new hope, with the opening of a new passenger port linking Suakin to Jeddah in Saudi Arabia.
Today, the Sudanese transport company Tarco operates daily crossings, carrying around 200 passengers per trip from the modern port of Suakin, within sight of the ancient city and its impoverished environs.
Lease to Turkiye
The city’s optimism grew in 2017 when then-president Omar Al-Bashir granted the old port to his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, under a 99-year lease for touristic development.
A Turkish company restored the old governor’s palace, customs house and two mosques, but the project stalled in 2019 after Bashir fell from power in the face of mass protests.
Then, in April 2023, the cruise passengers and scuba divers who once stopped in Suakin completely vanished when fighting erupted between the army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF).
A rusting cargo ship now lies stranded on a sandbank in the blue lagoon, where only a handful of fishing boats float around.
But Bushra, from SSLH, remains optimistic. He hopes to see the mosque, which houses the tomb of a Sufi sheikh, host a traditional music festival when the renovation is complete, “in five months.”
“When we finish the restoration, the tourists can come here,” he said.
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