Mahmoud Shehrah is a political analyst, former diplomat and negotiator who has worked on political, conflict and development-related issues in Yemen since 2009. Most recently, Shehrah was a Political and Information Counsellor at the Yemeni Embassy in Jordan. He has previously worked as a Protocol Manager for the Prime Minister of Yemen, and as the leader of a conflict-resolution-focused youth civil society organization. Shehrah’s career has focused on preventing and resolving violent conflict in Yemen and development. After earning a BA in Political Sciences from Sana’a University in 2011, he co-led a series of tribal mediation initiatives that freed tribal prisoners. In 2014, he spearheaded a Yemeni youth organization’s efforts to de-escalate conflict between Yemen’s government and the rebel Houthi group. Although it was unable to prevent the outbreak of civil war, the initiative did broker a one-month truce. Shehrah has played a key role in UN-led negotiations in Yemen, acting as a liaison to the UN Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Yemen (OSESGY), European and other diplomat delegations. He was part of the Yemeni government team that negotiated to reopen roads in Taiz governate in 2022 and worked closely with the government of Jordan to reopen Sana’a Airport in 2022.
