Khoury said - in statements to the "Beyond the News" program in the episode (9/26/2020) that the UN envoy Martin Griffiths, since assuming his duties, has failed to achieve any victory mentioned in the bloody conflict that Yemen has been witnessing for years, but he could not just happen. A breach that would give hope to an end to the conflict and war in Yemen.
Commenting on Griffiths' optimism about what was reached in the talks hosted by Switzerland between the Yemeni government and the Houthis regarding an agreement to exchange the release of about a thousand prisoners;
Khoury said that Griffiths, in every file assigned to him in Yemen, was giving optimistic impressions suggesting that things were on their way to being resolved, but that did not happen even once.
Khoury accused the UN envoy of focusing on humanitarian issues, which are not within his competence, to cover up his failure to solve the major political crises, which are among his responsibilities, pointing to his failure to calm in Hodeidah, stressing at the same time that prisoners' issues are a matter that must be managed by civil society organizations and the Red Cross And the UN envoy who went to Yemen to calm down is not concerned with it.
On the same level, a professor of political science at Al-Hudaydah University, Faisal Al-Hudhaifi, asked why the UN envoy cheered what was announced today about the exchange of about a thousand prisoners, while the number of Yemeni "kidnapped" by the Houthis reached tens of thousands.
Al-Hudhaifi indicated that the Houthis and legitimacy had reached in the Stockholm and Jordan talks to release all prisoners, and not just a thousand.
Al-Hudhaifi considered that the Yemenis are the biggest losers in these talks, because the Houthis are capturing civilians who were kidnapped from their homes and are not soldiers, and he also spoke of Saudi and Houthi disregard for the legitimate government, after it became clear that the Saudi negotiator who participated in the Swiss talks put forward the names of his captured soldiers to the Houthis. Without prior coordination with the legitimate government.
Contrary to these views, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Information of the Houthis, Nasreddin Amer, believed that the prisoner exchange agreement announced today constitutes a good step in building confidence, and may lead to reaching comprehensive solutions and a ceasefire if the Saudi and Emirati side are committed to what is agreed upon. And they showed a sincere intention and real desire to end the war.
But the issue of building confidence was a source of mockery for both Khoury and Al Hudhaifi, who asked: How many years does it take for trust to be built between the Houthis and both Saudi Arabia and the UAE?
Khoury went on to question Saudi Arabia's intentions to end the war, stressing that if it wanted to, the matter would depend on a mere decision by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, "but there is no regional or international desire to end the war in Yemen," adding that the war in Yemen was taken based on Article Seven, So why is the peace decision not taken under the same clause, so that everyone is bound by it?
Amer agreed with this viewpoint, and said that if Saudi Arabia really wants peace, it must lift the siege on Yemen and stop its air strikes.