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Yemen warring sides resume direct talks after week-long pause: UN

Monday, 23 May 2016 1:10 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 23 May 2016 1:50 PM ]

File photo shows members of Yemeni rebel and government delegations taking part in a meeting as part of the UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait City on April 21, 2016. (AFP photo)

The United Nations special envoy to Yemen says the warring sides in the Yemeni conflict have held their first direct meeting after a week-long break.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on his Twitter page Monday that the face-to-face talks came after a delegation representing the resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi accepted to end its one-week boycott of the talks in Kuwait.

“A joint meeting between the two delegations to the Yemen peace talks has started in the morning,” Ould said, without elaborating.

However, sources close to Hadi had said Sunday that he has agreed to give the Kuwait-hosted talks, which began on April 21, a “last chance.”

Hadi delegation withdrew from negotiations after accusing Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and allies of failing to keep their word. Hadi's representative had urged the Houthis to begin to implement a UN Security Council resolution and withdraw from the capital Sana’a and other places they control and surrender their arms.

But the Houthis refused to give in, setting their own preconditions, including a full halt to aerial and ground attacks by Saudi Arabia in support of Hadi that have left close to 10,000 killed in Yemen over the past 14 months.

The Houthis said on their website al-Masirah that Hadi delegation was forced to return to direct talks in Bayan Palace in Kuwait City under recommendations from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, saying a trip by Hadi to the Qatari capital Doha to meet UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani could not assure him of concessions by Ansarullah and allies.

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