UN Yemen Envoy Bids to Revive Troubled Peace Talks


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN envoy met delegates of Yemen's warring parties separately in a bid to restart peace negotiations after a walkout by the fugitive former government's delegation, the United Nations said on Tuesday.

The delegation representing Yemen's fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi quit on Sunday in protest at alleged seizure of one of the few loyalist army bases in the northern mountains by Houthis. 

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed met both pro-Hadi and Houthi delegations late on Monday in a bid to find a swift resolution to the dispute over the seizure of the Al-Amaliqa base on Saturday despite an April 11 ceasefire, AFP reported.

Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, who heads the pro-Hadi delegation, told Sky News Arabia there would be no more direct or indirect talks with Houthis until they withdrew from the camp and gave guarantees there would be no further breaches of the ceasefire.

Despite a Saudi-led military intervention in support of Mansour Hadi launched in March last year, Houthis and their allies still control the capital, as well as much of the northern and central mountains and Red Sea coast.