SANA’A — The communication committee met on Sunday, May 19th with representatives of the Friends of Yemen Conference in order to inform them about the latest developments regarding the targeted participants of the upcoming national dialogue.  

The communication committee head, Abdulkareem Al-Eryani, said that the committee has held many meetings since it was established on May 12. To date, the committee has contacted the Houthis, Southern Movement representatives, and several opposition figures abroad. A team of the communication committee will pay a visit to Sa’ada in the coming week. Moreover, the opposition figures will be meeting in Cairo, Egypt.

Al-Eryani acknowledged the Friends of Yemen saying “Thanks to the Friends of Yemen in the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union whose role is integral in the comprehensive national dialogue.”

The committee has set up a team to address the Southern Movement issue.This team includes Adulwahab Al-Anisi, Husein Arab, Abdulkadir Hilal, and Raqia Humeidan.

Another team has been created to contact the Houthis. This team includes Dr. Abdulkareem Al-Aryani, Dr. Yassen Saeed Noman, Abdulwahab Al-Anisi, Abdulkadir Hilal and Nadia Al-Sakkaf.

And also team of the committee’s members to contact the opposition figures abroad. This team consists of Al-Eryani, Dr. Yassen Saeed Noman, Abdulwahab Al-Anisi, and Jaafer Basaleh.

Members of the committee will be responsible to contact civil society organizations including the syndicates, unions, private sector, research centers, and marginalized community groups. This task involves Al-Eryani, Al-Sakkaf, Al- Anisi and Humeidan.

The committee will also contact women’s organizations. Members tasked with this mission include Hilal, Arab and Basaleh.

Reaching out to the youth who sparked the 2011 Yemeni Arab Spring will be also one of the main tasks of this committee’s duties. This special envoy of the committee’s members includes Hilal, Al-Sakkaf and Humeidan, they will confer with the youth to try and engage them in the upcoming national dialogue conference.     

There is already another team headed by Hurai Mashhoor, the Minister of Human Rights, to communicate with the youth.  The committee was set up last month and it is composed of ten ministers. The communication with some of the youth representatives has already started on the basis of the gulf initiative mechanism.

Mashhoor stated, “the purpose of communicating with the youth is to make them realize the significance of national dialogue as a fundamental component of the peaceful transitional process resulting in sought-after change.”

She commended the European Union, the Russian ambassador to Yemen, and the German embassy for being conscious of this committee.

Mashhoor said that the ministerial committee is planning to hold many workshops in different governorates nationwide. Each workshop shall have 50 to 70 young participants. This committee has been supported by the United States International Development Agency (USAID) which will cover the cost of ten workshops.

She indicated that the youth are planning to convene a meeting to discuss specific national issues in this phase.

For his part, the Russian ambassador, Sergei Kozlov, declared his support for this meeting asserting that the ten countries supporting the gulf initiative are eager to support the two committees to promote peace in Yemen

Kozlov stated, “A working team has been finalized. This team has been selected from the Friends of Yemen Conference, the European Union and Russia, and includes the ten countries sponsoring the gulf initiative in addition to the United Nations, Germany and Turkey.”