Local Editor
Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement representing the national delegation and the resigned regime of former President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, met for a second day for U.N.-sponsored talks aimed at halting the bloodshed on Friday.
At the venue in a castle in the town of Rimbo, north of Stockholm, U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths and various Yemeni delegates were seen walking on the grounds.
During a break outside the talks, Othman Mujali, minister of agriculture from the Hadi regime, said his side was allegedly ready to make concessions to help relieve suffering and prop up the economy.
“We are ready to release prisoners of war and pay wages to people, if they carry on with what we’re agreeing upon,” he said.
The Houthi delegation later said that talks had been divided into five main sections, including opening up Sana’a airport for aid, adding that the prisoner swap would include all detainees from both sides.
“The first section is the political framework, the second section is the airport ... then Sanaa and the economic measures and humanitarian issues, and the fifth — and it has been discussed and finished — is concerning the detainees and prisoners of war,” senior Houthi negotiator Abdul-Malik al-Ajri said.
The talks opened Thursday on an upbeat note, with the warring sides agreeing to a broad prisoner swap, boosting hopes that the talks would not deteriorate into further violence as in the past.
In a release from Sana’a later Friday the Houthis said their delegation had met with Griffiths and looked forward to having success in the talks and making concrete progress.
“The international envoy discusses the importance of such consultations and affirmed that progress must be made on three important issues: the general framework, political solution and calm, and confidence-building measures,” it said.
Yemen’s conflict, which has pushed the country to the brink of famine, pits the resigned Hadi regime against the Houthis. The
Saudis intervened the following year to forcefully reinstate the Hadi regime.
Source: Yemenwatch.net
