UN Peace Talks on Yemen Postponed
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - A United Nations conference aimed at restarting peace talks in Yemen has been postponed as Saudi Arabia’s war on the impoverished country goes on.
"I can confirm that the meeting has been postponed," a UN official said on Sunday amid uncertainty over who would attend the negotiations.
The decision was announced after Yemen's fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that he would not be present during talks unless his demands are met.
Saudi Arabia started its military aggression against Yemen on March 26 -- without a UN mandate -- in a bid to undermine the Ansarullah movement, which currently controls Sana’a and other major provinces, and to restore power to Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh.
The Houthis also said that they are prepared to take part in the peace talks if the Saudi regime stops its military offensive on the impoverished Arab country, Press TV reported.
Ansarullah spokesman Mohamed Abdel-Salam said on May 21 that as long as the Saudi regime goes on with its airstrikes on the Yemeni people, they cannot accept to sit down at the negotiating table.
The Ansarullah movement will not yield to pressure to disarm its fighters and abandon the Yemeni cities as such moves will only pave the way for the “carnage” of people, he added.
Earlier in the day, the UN secretary-general had announced that peace talks aimed at ending the crisis in Yemen will begin in the Swiss city of Geneva on May 28.
Earlier on Sunday, Saudi war planes targeted two military bases in the capital city Sana’a and raided an army base in south western Ad Dali’ province.
The International airport in Yemen's southern city of Aden was also bombed several times, raids were also carried out in the western Raymah province’s al-Ja'fariyeh region killing five people.
The UN says, since March, nearly 2,000 people have been killed and 7,330 injured due to the conflict in Yemen. However, according to Yemen's Freedom House Foundation, the Saudi airstrikes have claimed the lives of about 4,000 Yemeni people.
