Local Editor
The UN special envoy for Yemen left Yemen on Saturday after further talks with Houthi leaders in the capital Sana’a and a visit to the contested coastal city of Hodeida where he called for UN supervision of its crucial port.
Martin Griffiths' proposal for the UN to oversee operation at Hodeida port addresses one of key sticking points in his attempts to bring Yemen's warring parties to the negotiating table in Sweden next month.
Speaking after discussions with the port management in Hodeida on Friday, Griffiths said: "I am here to tell you today that we have agreed that the UN should now pursue actively and urgently detailed negotiations for a leading UN role in the port and more broadly. We believe that such a role will preserve the essential humanitarian pipeline that starts here and serves the people of Yemen."
International pressure for peace negotiations is mounting amid warnings that millions of Yemenis face starvation because of food shortages caused by more than three years of conflict. Griffiths told the UN Security Council this month that he was hopeful of bringing the Houthis and the resigned regime of former President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi together to discuss peace after both sides showed willingness to make concessions.
On Saturday, Griffiths held talks in Sana’a with the head of the Houthis’ Higher Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali Al Houthi, before flying out of the city without speaking to reporters.
According to a UN source, he will hold talks with Hadi and other officials in Riyadh on Monday.
"We hope that his visit to Riyadh ends with positive results," Mohammed Al Houthi said after Griffiths' departure.
Regime spokesman Rajeh Badi said on Friday that Hadi and his officials had not yet received "any information from UN envoy Martin Griffiths about the talks in Sweden and what is to be discussed".
Griffiths, however, sounded optimistic during his visit Hodeida.
"I am here to tell you today that we have agreed that the UN should now pursue actively and urgently detailed negotiations for a leading UN role in the port," he said.
He urged the warring parties to "keep the peace" in the Red Sea port city, where heavy fighting broke out earlier this month.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
