NEWSSUNDAY, APRIL 17, 2016

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Briefing the Security Council Friday ahead of the talks,UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has conductedmonths of shuttle diplomacy, said Yemen has “never beenso close to peace”. The government and the rebels andtheir allies last sat down to talk in Geneva in December, butsix days of negotiations ended with no major break-through. “We can expect a hard time” at the Kuwait talks,said April Longley Alley, a Yemen specialist at theInternational Crisis Group.

“In a best case scenario, the two sides will agree to apackage of compromises that will build trust, strengthenthe ceasefire, allow for an inclusive government to returnto Sanaa and restart the political process,” she told AFP. “Butthis is a tall order.” In contrast with previous ceasefires, jointcommittees of rebel and loyalist troops were formed tomonitor compliance. However they have not really beguntheir work. On Thursday, military sources reported at least35 pro-government fighters killed in clashes with rebels overthree days near the Houthi-held capital Sanaa. The coalition- which is not a party to the Kuwait talks - intervened afterthe Zaidi Shiite Houthis overran Sanaa in Sept 2014 and lateradvanced to other regions. Chaos and misery have ruled theArabian Peninsula country since.

Rights groups criticized the civilian toll from coalitionbombings, but also accused the Houthis of abuses. Alleysays the government and rebels remain far apart on mat-

ters of substance. President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’sinternationally recognized government insists on the rigidapplication of UN Security Council Resolution 2216 callingfor the political process to resume and for rebels to with-draw from Yemen’s cities while surrendering theirweapons. The Houthis are allied with elite troops loyal toformer president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Alley says rigid implementation of Resolution 2216would amount to “a Houthi/Saleh surrender and is unrealis-tic”. It is also unclear if the Houthis would be willing to dis-band their “revolutionary councils” and allow a more inclu-sive government to return to Sanaa, she said. Probablymost important is for the two sides to agree on interimsecurity arrangements essential for strengthening theceasefire, Alley said. This would also help prepare for otherprogress such as the return of the government and Houthidisarmament.

Yemen was already the Arab world’s poorest countrybefore the conflict escalated but now the humanitarian sit-uation is “staggering”, says the UN. More than 6,300 peoplehave been killed in Yemen since March last year - aroundhalf of them civilians - and 82 percent of the populationneed aid. “We would of course hope and expect all the par-ties involved to respect the cessation of hostilities,” UNspokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Thursday. “We haveseen that is not, unfortunately, the case but we do think itis largely holding. We are continuing and on track with thepeace talks.” —AFP

Yemen talks to begin amid shaky truce

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The KPC and subsidiaries still call on the oil tradeunions to take part in a proposed joint commission,which is one of workers’ demands, to work on a concilia-tory solution and overcome this critical stage, Saleh not-ed.

He pointed to the enormous challenges facing theKuwaiti economy, which prompted the state to takeserious steps to counter them in all sectors, in additionto crystalizing an obvious economic vision to manageoil wealth, the backbone of the national economy. Headded that the KPC and its subsidiaries had freezed thesuggested retrenchment initiatives during the negotia-tion period as per articles 131 and 132 of Law 6/2010,out of their responsibility for the size of risks and chal-lenges the oil sector is facing. The minister concludedby calling for necessarily maintaining the oil sector,which is the backbone of Kuwait’s national economy,and giving top priority to the country’s higher interest.

The union, however, immediately rejected the minis-ter’s call as offering nothing new and said the strike willgo ahead from today morning. “The strike will go aheadas planned,” union chief Saif Al-Qahtani said, holding oilcompanies and the minister responsible for the strikeand the potential losses from it.

Meanwhile, Kuwait Oil Co yesterday started takingspecial measures to face the proposed strike, said oilsources, noting that 70 percent of gathering centers,gas booster stations and water processing plants hadbeen shut down by KOC and that similar steps had beentaken by Kuwait Petroleum Corp. Kuwait NationalPetroleum Company (KNPC) also said yesterday it wasclosing some units at Ahmadi refinery for routine main-tenance, dismissing reports the closures were related tothe planned strike, said state news agency KUNA. KNPCsaid the closures were planned in advance as part of aclean fuels project being implemented at the Mina Al-Ahmadi and Mina Abdullah refineries. It added that itmay close one or more of the total 52 units at Ahmadias part of an emergency plan, if necessary.

Commenting on the strike, cleric Sheikh Ajeel Al-Nashmi said strikes that lead to disruption of publicservices and affect people’s interests are religiously‘haram’ (forbidden). Nashmi posted a tweet saying thatdelaying the work of people, namely those related to

services like electricity, water and the more importantoil sector, and the possible losses this would lead to isstrictly haram.

Hit by a sharp drop in crude prices, Kuwait is intro-ducing a new payroll scheme for all public employeesand wants to include the country’s 20,000 oil workers,which would mean an automatic cut in wages andincentives. The union has not said how long the strike,involving thousands of workers at state-owned oil, gasand petrochemical companies, would last.

KPC said the workers union had boycotted negotia-tions called for Thursday by the social affairs and laborministry. It said KPC had offered to “suspend” all spendingcuts if the union agreed to join a committee to negotiatea settlement. Union chief Qahtani said the negotiationswere illegal and aimed only at preventing the strike. Theunion is also protesting plans to privatize parts of the oilsector. “The KPC statement is talking about ‘freezing’ thedecisions, while our demand is to cancel them,” saidQahtani. “The strike is still on and on time.”

Kuwait National Petroleum Company (KNPC), a sub-sidiary of KPC and one of five state-owned companiesthat would be affected, has said there is a contingencystrategy to ensure production and exports would notbe affected. KPC had called on the unions to work withit to find a way out of the dispute, and warned thatunder Kuwaiti laws it was illegal to obstruct work inpublic facilities in areas such as oil, gas and petro-chemicals. “There is no doubt that the commotion con-tains a direct and major threat to the stability of the oilsector which represents the main economic artery forthe country’s revenues and is the source of its wealthand prosperity,” the statement said on Thursday. It saidthat anyone inciting a work stoppage risked “subjectinghimself to legal questioning”. Other firms whose workersplan to join the strike include KOC, Kuwait Oil TankerCompany, Equate Petrochemical Industries Companyand Kuwait Gulf Oil Company.

Strikes are relatively common among public sectorworkers in Kuwait - one of the world’s richest countriesper capita - compared to other Gulf states such as theUnited Arab Emirates, where unions are banned. OPEC-member Kuwait pumps three million barrels of crudeper day and has three refineries with a combined capac-ity of 930,000 bpd.

(Material from Agencies used in this report)

Oil union rejects govt appeal to cancel ... Will and Kate end India trip with Taj...

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the city is still thriving, took several black-and-white pic-tures of the Queen and Prince Philip. In one, the Queen isshown dressed in an elegant overcoat and a knee-lengthdress, sitting next to her husband in an open-top car.Sharma may have reason to hope he gets his wish - inMumbai, the couple took time out from engagements tomeet with a 93-year-old admirer, Boman Kohinoor. TheBritannia & Company restaurant owner became the star of asocial media campaign that saw arrangements made for himto meet the royals at the last minute.

Security was beefed up around the monument, a UNESCOworld heritage site, ahead of the Duke and Duchess’s arrival,with several paramilitary personnel standing guard with snif-fer dogs. The mausoleum is currently undergoing renovation

work, with scaffolding covering three of the minarets - and asenior archaeological official told AFP it would not be dis-mantled for the visit. It marks the final stop of a hectic itiner-ary for the royal couple, on their first official trip to the coun-try that the British ruled for close to 200 years.

Their whistle-stop tour has seen them hobnob withBollywood stars in Mumbai and meet Prime MinisterNarendra Modi for lunch at a former palace in New Delhi. Theythen spent two days in Bhutan, meeting the king and thequeen of the remote Himalayan kingdom, trying their hand atthe national sport of archery, and taking a mountain hike. Thecouple are set to return to England on Sunday in time for theQueen’s 90th birthday on April 21. Crafted in white marbleand inlaid with precious stones, the Taj Mahal was builtbetween 1631 and 1648 under Mughal emperor Shah Jahan,in memory of his favorite wife, Mumtaz Mahal. — AFP

A picture taken on Friday shows tens of thousands of vehicles that were seized by police forces due to traffic violations at a makeshift impound in the Wadi Laban suburb, west of Riyadh. Saudi Arabiais listed in a top of countries that suffer from traffic accidents and violations yearly. —AFP