The Special Envoy of the Secretary General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, stressed the importance of ongoing Track II efforts, as complementary to official negotiations in Yemen, indicating that it is crucial to work on peace-building in Yemen, in parallel to official diplomatic efforts, known as Track I, to end the war. He added that “the real work in Yemen starts the day after we reach a political deal. We should all work to prepare for that day.”

Griffiths met Tuesday morning with a group of tribal leaders and civil society workers, from Hadhramaut and Marib, on the sidelines of a workshop organized by Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies and Oxford Research Group, in Amman.

At the same time, the office of the Special Envoy hosted a meeting with a group of international and local partners who work on Track II initiatives in Yemen. This meeting comes in the same context of supporting the complementary role of such initiatives to the track of official negotiations. Track II partners also shared perspectives on the political process, based on the consultation exercises which they conducted with a broad range of Yemeni stakeholders

Track II refers to unofficial, informal peacemaking efforts and initiatives carried out by mediators with various societal groups, including civil society organizations, women’s organizations, political groups, youth movements, religious groups, professional organizations and trade unions. Such efforts and activities run parallel to and in support of Track I. Since mid-2015, the Office of the Special Envoy has collaborated with a number of international partners on a wide-range of Track II efforts.