Local Editor
Russia warned Thursday the war in Yemen could drang on for a "very long time" because of the Hadi-government’s insistence on conditions for a ceasefire.
Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin, speaking after a U.N. Security Council meeting on the Yemen crisis, told reporters he was concerned that prospects for peace talks were dim.
"We hear that the government does not want to have a ceasefire until there is a comprehensive settlement," Churkin said.
"This is a recipe for a very long conflict which will have even more dramatic results," he said.
Russia has repeatedly criticized the Saudi-led bombing campaign in Yemen that was launched last March to push back the Houthi Ansarullah movement and popular committees.
More than 8,300 people have been killed in the violence. It has brought the country to its knees, with more than 80 percent of the population in dire need of food, medicine or other basic necessities.
Russia abstained, but did not veto, a Saudi-backed resolution adopted last year that demands that the Houthi revolutionaries withdraw from all territory seized in their campaign.
That resolution, Churkin said, "is being used essentially to continue the military campaign" by the Saudi-led coalition.
U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed last month told the council that he was hoping to convene peace talks this month to follow up on a first round of consultations held in Switzerland in January.
But the envoy did not announce a date for new talks during his closed-door briefing to the council, diplomats said.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
