(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) Kuwait'a ambassador to the EU, Belgium and Luxembourg Dharar Abdul Razzak Razzoqqi has stressed that Kuwait and the other Gulf Cooperation Council member seek a peaceful settlement to the crisis in Yemen, but some outside interference and the intransigent position of the Houthi rebels is preventing this to happen.
"We always have stressed a peaceful and political solution not a military solution," he told the European Parliament's Delegation for relations with the Arab Peninsula during a debate on Yemen Thursday afternoon.
"We tried to reach a political solution in Geneva but unfortunately all our efforts have failed due to outside interference and the obstinacy and intransigence of the Houthis and the former president Abdullah Ali Saleh," noted the Kuwaiti ambassador.
He, however, stressed that "if there is a threat to peace and security in the Arab peninsula we cannot allow that. Sometimes the use of force is to tell the parties that we would like you to reach a political settlement." He said that Kuwait and other GCC nations are committed to full financial and other support to Yemen after the end of the crisis.
"We consider Yemen very important strategic country for our national security. Its geographical situation is also very important," he stressed noting that Kuwait, the GCC and other Arab and Islamic countries tried to help Yemen since a long time. In particular Kuwait established an agency in the 50s and 60's to help in the development of Yemen.
Kuwait last year as the chair of the GCC tried to bring a negotiated peaceful settlement with the UN, and the GCC has presented a full and detailed initiative to resolve the crisis in Yemen, he stated.
On her part, Bettian Muscheidt, head of the EU mission to Yemen, debriefed the meeting on the UN-facilitated talks on Yemen, held from 15-19 June in Geneva.
She described it as positive step that consultations had taken place and that the UN has re-established a prominent role in these negotiations.
She said both parties made the efforts to come and the presence of the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon for two days put personal weight behind the talks.
"The common assessment is that neither of the delegations negotiating had a lot of room for manoeuvre, in fact very little. Much more work needs to be done and the UN special envoy will return to the region and prepare the next meetings in the frame of shuttle diplomacy," said the EU's top diplomat in Yemen.
The failure of the Geneva meetings was "immensely disappointing" for the civilian population in Yemen, she said.
"It is time for all us to take stock" said Muscheidt and called on the EP to also reflect on future strategies on Yemen.
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