With Renewed Efforts To End the War, What are the Prospects for Peace in Yemen?

With the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen in its sixth year, there is a renewed effort to bring much needed peace to the country and prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis. The latest Saudi proposal, announced by Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan on March 22, comes as the Biden administration and the United Nations push for a peaceful resolution to the conflict. Yet, there are a wide range of internal dynamics and grievances to consider. And, with multiple local and regional actors involved with varied agendas, Yemen risks seeing the kingdom’s war on the Houthi rebels ended only for the country to be consumed by a series of complex conflicts driven by long-standing internal grievances.

Will renewed international diplomacy lay the groundwork for peace in Yemen? And what might a peaceful Yemen look like following six years of conflict? With much of the reconciliation effort up to Yemenis themselves, what issues are likely to dominate the agenda? And how will internal stakeholders tackle structural issues that have fueled internal disputes and lay the foundation for a successful process? What role are external actors, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and the United States, likely to play in such a process?

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