From Shreim to Steviani... Confusion ravages the office of the UN envoy in Yemen
English - Monday 21 August 2023 الساعة 04:58 pm
Aden, NewsYemen:
The United Nations intends to issue a decision to appoint an American diplomat to succeed the deputy UN special envoy to Yemen, Mueen Shrim, who was dismissed from his post after five years of working in the country.
According to the sources, Shreim - a Palestinian national - was removed from his position as deputy UN envoy following accusations and suspicions about the man regarding dealing with many outstanding issues between the Yemeni parties, especially in terms of opening closed roads during the past UN armistice in which he adopted the position and proposal of the Houthi militia delegation in Jordan meetings.
The sources said that there are expectations for a decision by the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, to appoint the veteran US diplomat and former UN envoy to Libya, Stephanie Williams, as the deputy UN envoy to Yemen, instead of the Palestinian Moeen Shrim, who has held this position for five years.
Shreim, during his administration of his position during the past years, issued many appointment decisions for members and unnecessary personalities within the office of the UN envoy, in addition to adopting the plans and directions of the Houthi militia in many closed meetings that took place regarding the opening of closed roads in Jordan, and he hindered the conclusion of any agreement in this aspect. Compared to the file of prisoners and detainees.
Mueen Shreim arrived in Yemen in 2017, to fill his new position, coming from Libya, where he worked as head of the political department of the UN mission in Libya since 2011. The man remained in the same position during three envoys who were assigned to solve the Libyan crisis.
Many Yemeni officials in the legitimate government accuse the man of not being impartial in dealing with humanitarian and pending issues, as he is a resident representative of the office of the UN envoy to Yemen, explaining that the UN official has transmitted a lot of false and erroneous information through UN reports after all the meetings he holds with the Yemeni actors on Arena.
Recently, campaigns of refusal to keep the man in his position as deputy UN envoy have escalated, and repeated requests have been made to the United Nations to remove the man because of the failures he committed during his years of service in Yemen.
The name of the man appeared in Yemen during his appointment as deputy to the second UN envoy to Yemen, the Mauritanian Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, but he was removed from his position after Ould Cheikh was replaced.
Yemeni observers revealed that the United Nations had previously relieved Shreem of his post in Libya after claims made by the actors in the Libyan arena because of the great failures that he led and led to more tension, explaining that the United Nations chose the same man to be its deputy envoy in Yemen despite his failure. And he called Shreim in Libya during his tenure that he was the architect of armed militias and chaos.
It is worth noting that the American diplomat, Stephanie Williams, who is proposed to be appointed to the position of Deputy UN Envoy in Yemen, has assumed, since 2020, the acting head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya until the end of July 2023.
During her diplomatic career, she worked for more than 20 years in a number of diplomatic missions, in Iraq, Jordan, Bahrain, Syria, the Emirates, Kuwait, Pakistan and finally in Libya. At the US State Department, she served as the Jordan Desk Officer, Deputy Director for Egypt and Levantine Affairs, and Director of the Maghreb Office.
Diplomat Williams speaks Arabic. She holds a degree in Economics and Government Relations from the University of Maryland, College Park in 1987, an MA in Arab Studies in 1989 at the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University, and an MA in National Security in 2008 from the National War College. .
