In a 17 April letter to the United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, the Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif set out a four-step Yemen Peace Plan:

1. an immediate ceasefire ending all foreign military attacks;

2. humanitarian assistance;

3. a broad national dialogue;

4. through the dialogue, the establishment of an inclusive unity government.

By Rene Wadlow

In support of the Yemen Peace Plan, the Foreign Minister wrote “It is imperative for the international community to get more effectively involved in ending the senseless aerial attacks and establishing a ceasefire, ensuring delivery of humanitarian and medial assistance to the people of Yemen and restoring peace and stability to this country through dialogue and national reconciliation without pre-conditions…This critical situation is escalating and the humanitarian crisis in Yemen is approaching catastrophic dimensions.”

The Yemen Peace Plan in its four steps is similar to an earlier Appeal of the Association of World Citizens (AWC). However, it is unlikely that Iran was influenced by the AWC Appeal; rather independent and objective analysis of the armed conflict leads to the same approach.

There is a nearly universal tendency in world politics to ignore plans set out by one party in a conflict and to look for hidden motivations.  This will probably be the short-term fate of the Yemen Peace Plan as some see the armed conflict in Yemen as a proxy battle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Therefore what is needed now is wide support for the four-step Yemen Peace Plan from non-governmental organizations, thus showing that support for the Yemen Peace Plan is in no way limited to the government of Iran but is rather a widely-held proposal of those working for effective conflict resolution.  The Association of World Citizens hopes to take a leadership role in developing this wide support.

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René Wadlow, president and a U.N. representative (Geneva) of the Association of World Citizens and editor of Transnational Perspective