UN envoy moves to revive Yemen talks

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The UN envoy for Yemen said Tuesday he will seek to revive talks between the Saudi-backed government and Houthi rebels after a first bid for negotiations on ending the war failed to get off the ground.

Meetings aimed at preparing formal peace talks were to begin last week in Geneva, but the Houthis refused to leave Sanaa to attend the consultations until a series of demands were met.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths told the Security Council he will be traveling to Muscat on Wednesday and later Sanaa and Riyadh to secure "a firm commitment from the parties to convene for continued consultations."

Two Yemeni men walk by rocks on the road in Crater, September 6, 2018, as protesters demonstrate against inflation and the rise of living costs near the country's second city of Aden, which is held by forces loyal to the Saudi-backed government. /VCG Photo

The Houthis failed to turn up at the talks in Geneva over demands linked to the evacuation of wounded rebels to Oman and safe passage for the return of the rebel delegation to Sanaa.

The Yemen peace process will have "ups and downs," Griffiths told a council meeting, downplaying the setback as "temporary obstacles."

He asked the council to support his new shuttle diplomacy to "move back to the table with all speed."

Yemen's foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani (C) walks followed by a bodyguard to a meeting with UN special envoy on Yemen at a hotel, September 7, 2018 in Geneva. /VCG Photo

It was the first UN bid to convene talks between the warring sides since 2016.

The council "expressed regret" that the Houthis did not attend the talks in Geneva and urged all sides to "engage in future consultations in good faith," US Ambassador Nikki Haley, who holds the council presidency, told reporters after the meeting.

The war in impoverished Yemen has killed 10,000 people and unleashed what the United Nations describes as the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting Houthi rebels in Yemen since 2015 to drive them out of the capital Sanaa and return President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi to power.

The coalition has come under pressure to seek a political settlement from Britain, France and the United States, which are increasingly ill at ease with the heavy toll that the bombing campaign has had on civilians.

(Cover: UN envoy Martin Griffiths attends a news conference on Yemen talks at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, September 8, 2018. /VCG Photo)

Source(s): AFP