اقرأ المحتوى باللغة العربية
Seyoun –A three-day conference concluding on Wednesday, January 25, in Seyoun, Hadramawt aimed to discuss the local challenges identified by four local strategic groups, formed in the governorates of Al-Mahra, Hadramawt, Marib, and Shabwa, as part of a broader project exploring alternative methodologies for Track II peace efforts in Yemen.
During the conference “Community-based Approaches for Addressing Local Issues”, participants focused on developing a coordination mechanism between the four local strategic groups and international peace initiatives in the respective governorates. 47 participants, including local officials, community leaders, and civil society groups, attended the conference organized by the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies and Saferworld, an organization working on conflict resolution.
The Undersecretary of Hadramawt Governorate for Valley and Desert Affairs, Amer Al-Amiri, stressed the importance of the role played by these strategic groups with the local authorities in addressing societal problems and challenges, and their contribution to improving the lives of citizens, easing tensions, and achieving community peace.
Richard Oppenheim, the British Ambassador to Yemen, spoke via video conference and stressed the importance of such community efforts in supporting Yemen’s peace process. Beshko Shamassi and Emma Boekee, political officers at the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, briefed the participants on the latest developments in the peace process.
The Executive Director of the Sana’a Center, Maged al-Madhaji, said that the Seyoun conference represented an extension of the Sana’a Center’s efforts to support local discussions and coordination in order to focus on the respective governorates’ priorities to achieve stability and development, as well as enhancing their approach toward peace.
“The Sana’a Center has long invested in these efforts and has built solid partnerships with the concerned parties in the four governorates in an attempt to work toward a path of stability, and away from the atmosphere of war,” Al-Madhaji added.
Al-Madhaji also briefed the attendees on the latest developments of the peace process in Yemen and the positions of local and foreign parties to the war.
The conference ended with a number of technical, political, and economic recommendations, which will be further developed with communities and local authorities in the four governorates.
About the Sana’a Center
The Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies is an independent think tank that seeks to foster change through knowledge production, with a focus on Yemen and the surrounding region. The Center’s publications and programs, offered in Arabic and English, cover political, social, economic, and security developments, aiming to impact policy locally, regionally, and internationally.