KUWAIT CITY, April 18 (UPI) — Peace talks between Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels, scheduled to begin Monday, were stalled by the absence of Houthi representatives.
The negotiations in Kuwait, brokered by the United Nations, were to follow a week-long cease-fire in Yemen marred by violations reported by both sides.
The goal is resolution of an 18-month conflict in which 6,000 people have been killed. Houthi rebels, loyal to former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh are supported by Iran. In late 2014, they captured Yemen’s capital of Sana’a, driving President Abdu Rabbu Mansour Hadi into exile, and in 2015 began a southern offensive. A military bloc led by Saudi Arabia has been fighting the Houthis with airstrikes, and Hadi’s government has returned with a new base of operations in the city of Aden.
The Houthis say they intend to participate in the Kuwait negotiations but want to first pressure the Yemeni government over the alleged cease-fire violations, an anonymous source from Saleh’s political party, the General People’s Congress told Middle East Eye.
Despite the delay, the government delegation met with UN envoy Ismail Ould Shiekh on Monday. Bard Basilma, a government representative, told Sky News Arabia, Middle East eye reported, that the Houthis are “engaging in trickery to try and gain the (military) advantage on the ground. The UN must put pressure on the Houthis to accept the international agreements that will solve the Yemeni crisis,” he said.
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