Conflict and Peace

Fighting has escalated in the last weeks in Marib and Al-Jawf, as intense diplomacy is failing to deliver any tangible progress towards reaching a ceasefire. Both the Houthis and the coalition admitted several airstrikes conducted by the coalition on various parts of Yemen over the last week. Meanwhile, government forces say they are keeping the Houthis at bay as they defend Marib city. 

After his visit to Baku at the end of September, Georgian prime minister Irakli Garibashvili this weekend paid a working visit to Armenia for meetings with his Armenian counterpart Nikol Pashinyan. According to the website of the Georgian Government, the initiative was at the centre of the discussions in Yerevan between the two prime ministers. Garibashvili reaffirmed the readiness of Georgia to continue its active facilitation role in order to ensure peace, stability and the gradual transformation of the South Caucasus into a region of new opportunities, development and peace.

Imed al-Sayeh, head of Libya’s High National Elections Commission (HNEC), said that the country is “80 or 90 per cent ready” for the presidential, parliamentary elections. In additions, Libya's joint military commission (5+5) announced that it has prepared and approved an action plan to gradually, balanced and simultaneously remove all mercenaries and foreign fighters from the country. 

The UN special envoy for Yemen, Hans Grundberg, is in Aden where he met with prime minister Maeen Abdulmalik to discuss ways to salvage the Riyadh agreement between the recognised Yemeni government and the Southern Transitional Council (STC). Grundburg stressed the need to implement the Riyadh agreement noting its economic, social and political benefits. 

A regional seminar with the theme “Regional Co-operation as a step towards peace in the South Caucasus” was held in Kachreti in Eastern Georgia on Friday 1 October 2021. Experts and officials from Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan attended the event which was hosted by LINKS Europe and the Levan Mikeladze Diplomatic Training and Research Institute of the Georgian Foreign Ministry.