Yemen’s national delegation [Houthi Ansarullah movement and their allies] headed to Kuwait Thursday to resume U.N.-mediated talks, amid threats of boycott by the Saudi-backed Hadi regime.
Negotiators who will attend the talks are representatives of the Ansarullah movement and their allies on the one hand and the regime of exiled Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Manour Hadi.
Previous peace talks failed to bridge the gap between the warring parties while a ceasefire that went into effect in April was marred with multiple breaches by both sides.
Hadi demands implementation of the U.N. security council resolution which stipulates the withdrawal of militias from all cities. The Ansarullah demand a share of power in a new government. The Houthis are also pressing to transfer Hadi’s presidential authorities to the new transitional government.
In June, U.N. Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council that the opposing parties have responded positively to a proposed roadmap he presented to end the conflict. He said that what is left to be finalized is a timeline and sequence of the steps in the roadmap - including when a national unity government would be created.
The war in Yemen has killed some 10,000 people and pushed the Arab world’s poorest country to the brink of famine. It also created a vacuum that enabled both Yemen’s Al-Qaeda branch and an upstart ISIS affiliate to seize territory and carry out large-scale attacks.
A high-ranking Yemeni official said that Hadi’s government is under pressure from western allies to join the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the press.
The talks, scheduled to take place Friday, come shortly after Ahmed, the U.N. envoy, paid a visit to Sana’a, where he met for the first time with the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stressed that a negotiated political settlement is the only way to end the war in Yemen and ensure that the interests of all the parties are met, during a brief meeting with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir.
The Saudi minister met with Ban for about 15 minutes Thursday, and then spoke for another half an hour with the Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson, and Leila Zerrogui, the U.N.’s special representative for Children and Armed Conflict.
The meeting with Ban was shortened due to scheduling issues: The foreign minister arrived about a half an hour late and Ban had to make a commercial flight to Kigali. The meeting had originally been scheduled for Wednesday.
At the meeting, the secretary-general and the foreign minister agreed that Yemeni peace talks must focus on outcomes and agreements that are actionable on the ground, Ban’s spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
