Local Editor
British foreign secretary Boris Johnson discussed ways to end Yemen's war during talks with Oman's ruler on Thursday.
Johnson's visit to Muscat was his second since December and his first stop on a two-day visit to the region hat also takes him to Saudi Arabia.
Omani state media said only that Johnson's discussions with Sultan Qaboos focused on “stability in the region” but officials close to the talks said both leaders agreed on the need to end the Yemeni conflict as soon as possible.
“The main focus of Mr Johnson’s Gulf visit is to give peace a genuine chance through negotiations on the Yemeni conflict. The Sultan of Oman has agreed with that concept and promised he would do all he could to support discussions that would end aggressions in Yemen,” an Omani official told The National.
British diplomats in Muscat said Johnson would convey the results of his talks with Sultan Qaboos to Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman in Riyadh, where he was scheduled to arrive later on Thursday.
“Johnson said he would carry the essence of the discussions he had with the Sultan to Prince Mohammed. It will form the basis of talks to try to put Saudi Arabia on the same wavelength to end military actions in Yemen," a diplomat said.
The British foreign secretary would spell out a series of steps towards peace "that would involve all feuding parties”.
Saudi Arabia leads a military coalition supporting Yemen's resigned regime against the Houthi Ansarullah revolutionaries.
Saudi Arabia has come under international opprobrium for the sheer size of the casualties from the war it is leading since March 2015 to crush the Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring back the former Yemeni government to power.
The offensive has so far killed 12,000 amid countless reports suggesting deliberate and indiscriminate targeting of civilian infrastructure by Saudi jets and mercenaries.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
