Saeed Mokbil, the President of the International Organization for the Least Developed Countries (IOLDCs) and a former Member of the UN Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries, has offered his views on the mandate of the UN working Group and on the conflict going on in Yemen in the interview given to Geostrategic Pulse Magazine.

Geostrategic Pulse: Ambassador, tell us about the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination?

Ambassador Saeed Mokbil: Let me start by saying that my tenure as a member of the Working Group ended in October 2020 after more than six years as a mandate holder. Regarding the Working Group, it is composed of five members of balanced geographical representation, who are elected by the Human Rights Council for a period of three years, which can be renewed once for an additional three years. 

What was the mandate of the Working Group?

I can summaries the mandate of the Working Group among others as follows:

First: To identify and monitor sources and the root causes of mercenaries and mercenary-related activities in all their forms, manifestations, emerging issues and trends in different parts of the world mainly in contemporary armed conflicts and their impact on human rights and on the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination.

Second: To identify the characteristics and methods of mercenarism, and to elaborate standards, guidelines and basic principles for the protection of human rights, while facing current and emergent threats posed by mercenaries or mercenary-related activities as a means of violating human rights and impeding the exercise of the right of peoples to self-determination.

As a member of the UN working Group on the use of mercenaries, how did you follow-up the issue of mercenaries and mercenary related activities until the end of your tenure?

In case where there are sufficiently reliable allegations that human rights violations are being perpetrated by mercenaries, we examined situations where mercenaries and mercenary-related activities and non-State actors followed by urgent action, including, coordination with the concerned member states and other UN mechanisms and conducted country visits when the situation requires such action. 

In case there are circumstances that warrant an urgent action, the Working Group engaged in consultations with Governments, relevant State organs, and intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations, as well as non-State actors, academic institutions and individuals.

As a chairman/Rapporteur of the Working Group in 2018, I presented before the 39th session of the Human Rights Council a report and a report to the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. As a result, resolution has been adopted by these two UN organs regarding our mandate and concerns, followed by organizing high level debate on 4 February 2019 by the UN Security Council on the mercenary activities as source of insecurity and destabilization in Africa.

In general, you can observe that, over the past 20 years, the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council, and the Human Rights Council have adopted over a hundred resolutions condemning the activities of mercenaries and those who use them.

According to reports on the internet, the UAE has contracted hundreds of former Colombian soldiers to fight in Yemen, can you confirm these allegations as you are aware of what is going on in your country of origin?

We have observed these allegations since 2018, and as a working group on mercenaries, we also received allegations. After considering and investigating the situation, we found that the allegations is false, fabricated allegation and politically motivated allegations carried out by the Muslim Brotherhood against their enemy the UAE as a reaction for including them in the terrorist list by the UAE. So, we rejected these allegations.

In fact, there are Thousands of immigrants and refugees from the horn of Africa who have been forced by both parties of the conflict in Yemen (the Houthis and the legitimate government) to be used as mercenaries, about 20,000 migrants risk traveling to Yemen by sea every month, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM). 

There are several training camps for mercenaries from the horn of Africa run by the Houthis, and other camps run by the Islah party the Yemeni branch of Muslim brotherhood under the umbrella of the legal government (the other party of the conflict), both conflict parties are dragging African migrants and recruiting them for a monthly salary of $100, including dramatic increasing in child recruitment by the Two conflict parties.

What can you tell us about the root causes of the conflict and the nature of the multiple conflicts which are raging in Yemen?

The main root causes came mainly as result of spreading of intolerance and extremism, which is the starting point for the spread of violent extremist groups and the growing phenomenon of extremism, terrorism and hatred, which provided a fertile environment for the outbreak of conflict.

The catastrophic key players in this conflict are the Houthis whose ideological background is based on extremism and adhere to the claim that the Houthi leader, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has the right to rule as a descendant of the Prophet Mohammed.

On the other hand, the Islah Party (the Muslim Brotherhood and the decision maker in the legitimate government) where numerous facts and reports have proven that the ideological line of the Muslim Brotherhood completely in line with the ideological line of Al Qaeda, and that the and Muslim Brotherhood is the main driver of the spread of extremist Islamic tendency and terrorist groups in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria, and the Sahel region with the aims to hijack power and establish an Islamic caliphate in these countries, mainly in Yemen.

The motivation of those two conflict parties is fighting for power and  each of them trying to eliminate each other by relying on their military strength to achieve total military victory and force the other to surrender.

What about the Southern issue?

It started in 1994, as a result of the failed unification and breakout the war between North and the South resulted with the control of the northern military and security forces over the Southern territory. This remained so until the southern resistance was able to regain the South in 2015.

Today, the Southern Transitional Council (STC) headed by Aidarous Al Zubaidi is controlling most of the South, and standing upon the wide popular base it enjoys in the South is calling for restoring the Southern State that existed until 1990.

One of the main areas of challenge relates to recent developments in the conflict that have become more complex and have shown that the war has turned mostly into a conflict between North and South. Despite the conflict of interests and ideological differences between the two Northern parties to the conflict, they have common interest in order to defeat the Southern Transitional Council and to achieve and impose the northern dominion over the south in the name of unity.

What about Al-Qaeda’s in the Arabian Peninsula and also other terrorist groups based in Yemen?

Al-Qaeda’s in the Arabian Peninsula has taken Yemen as a safe haven since 1994, and After the liberation of Aden from the Houthis in 2015, al-Qaeda and ISIS both exploited the post-war situation in order to obtain weapons and attract the youth to carry out daily terrorist act sin Aden and other southern governorates.

In this regard, it should be noted the progress made in the period of 1916- 1919 by the United Arab Emirates and the southern forces including the Security Belt Forces, the Hadrami Forces and the Shabwani Elite Forces in eradicating Al-Qaeda in the South and in implementing the UN Counter terrorism strategy in the South. 

In fact, since 2016 by eliminating terrorism and preventing terrorist facilities or training camps, the UAE support, rehabilitation of the southern counterterrorism forces, air and intelligence support have had a significant impact on achieving security, stability and victories through the forces of the Southern Transitional Council against terrorist groups in Aden, and other Southern governorates.

On April 24, 2016, the city of Mukalla, the coast of Hadramout, was liberated from al-Qaeda, with the planning and support of the UAE Armed Forces of 2,000 Yemeni soldiers. The liberation of the coastal areas of Hadramout had a positive impact on regional and international security, as it aborted some of al-Qaeda, fiercest terrorist operations outside Yemen.

In mid-August 2017, the UAE Armed Forces launched a large-scale ground military campaign to cleanse the southern governorates of Abyan and Shabwa of al-Qaeda and ISIS elements, with the participation of the Southern forces.

The 2019- International Experts praised in their report to the Security Council the role of the Southern forces established by the support of the UAE (the Security Belt and the Shabwani and Hadrami Elites) in combating terrorism, describing them as "the most active forces in the fight against Al-Qaeda and ISIS in the Arabian Peninsula." 

The report of the United Nations Group of Experts on Yemen dated January 26, 2018, addressed to the President of the Security Council, stated that “the Security Belt Forces, the Hadrami Forces and the Shabwani Elite Forces are among the most effective forces in combating terrorism. The Shabwani Elite Forces, backed by the UAE armed forces, managed to take control of the villages and directorates of Shabwa oil province, amid resistance from al-Qaeda militants”.

Today, after the departure of the UAE forces, unfortunately, the military camps of the national army of Yemen became a safe haven for Al-Qaida elements. What do you think are the obstacles and constraints that stand against ending this conflict, especially after more than Six years of the war?

There is no foreseeable end in sight to the current war as with it every passing day, its intensity increases. It is certainly no easy task to bring this conflict to an end and achieve even the semblance of a real political settlement. It has started to take multiple Bifurcations in a Polynomial Model due to the following indicators:

Firstly: Neglecting the root causes of the conflicts that arose in Yemen has led to the failure to reach a comprehensive and lasting solution. This has also reduced all chances of success in the past with the Three former Special Envoys of the UN Secretary-General to Yemen and will impede future negotiations of the current UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy to Yemen.

Secondly: Currently, the military conflict map has reached its peak of violence. Produced a different reality against the assumed political solutions. In the North, we observe that the Houthis have extended their control on most territory, and the STC has done the same in the South, and the legal government Hanging in the air between the North and the South.

Thirdly: The Houthis and the Yemeni government show two conflicting positions towards the peace initiatives to solve the Yemeni crisis. For their part, The Houthis insist on a separate deal over Al Hudaydah port and Sanaa Airport as a basic precondition to reach a ceasefire and unleashing the political process. On the other side, the Yemeni government insists on dealing with all these issues (ports, the airport, ceasefire, unleashing and implementing the political process) as one package- deal with a focus on activating a ceasefire.

Fourthly: The disagreement on the implementation of the agreement signed on November 5, 2019, between the Yemeni government and the STC due to the government intransigence. Moreover, despite the conflict of interests and ideological differences between the two parties to the conflict in the North (the Houthis and the legitimate government led by the Islah party), they have switched their war towards the South to defeat the STC and impose their hegemony over south under the slogan of the unification.

What can be said about the role of the United Nations?

The international community has recently mobilized its diplomatic efforts stressing the importance of reaching a political solution and ending the Yemeni war, however, this path looks impossible due to the stubbornness of conflicting parties, the Houthis and the Yemeni government according to the briefing of the UN Martin Griffiths, who declared in his last briefing to the UN Security Council in mid-June, the failure of his efforts to reach a nationwide ceasefire agreement.

What should be the solution from your point of view?

A quick inventory of the regional and international approach in dealing with the Yemeni file clearly indicates the need to change the current policy towards a wider and more inclusive operation reflecting the interests of the local parties of the dispute according to their centers of power and influence. Moreover, by passing the rest of the actors would create a fertile environment for turmoil and instability, contrary to what peace advocates aspire to.

Is it possible to change the current policy towards a wider and more inclusive operation in towards Conflict prevention, post-conflict peacebuilding?

It is certainly no easy task to bring this conflict to an end and achieve even the semblance of a real political settlement. It has started to take multiple bifurcations in a Polynomial Model of bursting, but a different effective road map could be adopted by Ambassador Hans Grundberg the new special UN envoy to Yemen to prevent the outbreak of conflict and build peace after the conflict ends.

In your opinion, can the current special UN envoy overcome the obstacles and constraints that stood against the efforts of the former three special envoys?

He can develop a new approach, let us say human rights based approach, and his success depends mainly to which extent the reality of the crisis in Yemen is understood, its deep internal rooting, the reality on the ground, and the removal of this crisis from the frame of the “Yemeni government and the Houthis", especially that, the situation in Yemen has changed significantly since the war broke out, and in order to catch up he should take in consideration the following key solutions:

First:  It should be said that a new UN Security Council Resolution is needed to refer Warlords and perpetrators to the ICC and to overcome confined the negotiations within a bilateral framework between Yemeni government and the Houthis which represent an obstacle in the path of peace negotiations in line with changing the power balance map on the ground.

Second: The key to resolving the Yemeni crisis must lies in addressing the root causes of the conflict between the south and the north by working to rebuild a new geopolitical reality based on regional and international partnership that will lead to restoring the two former states based on Peremptory rules of general international law and other international human rights instruments in resolving the Southern issue, including the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties of 1969 and Article 1 of the International Covenants.

Third: Within the frame work of political negotiations the tasks of the Counter terrorism Coalition led by the United Arab Emirates all together with Counter terrorism forces in the South should continue towards eliminating extremism and eradicating terrorism in line with the UN Counter terrorism strategy.