Yemen's Ansarullah to Send Delegation to Peace Talks in Geneva
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Yemen’s warring parties, including the Houthi Ansarullah movement and the so-called ‘government’ of former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi will hold indirect talks in the Swiss city of Geneva this week.
The United Nations has invited members of Ansarullah movement and the government of the former president to Geneva for talks from Thursday to Sunday, media reports said.
Envoy Martin Griffiths said the talks are aimed at charting a path forward to revive UN-backed negotiations, which broke down in 2016, and put an end to the Saudi aggression on the impoverished Arab country.
According to Hadi’s foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani on Sunday, the talks, that will likely focus on a prisoner exchange deal, “will not be face-to-face and depend on how well the UN envoy manages the two sides.”
“Our expectations are limited to the possibility of progress in the question of prisoners and detainees,” he said, adding, “I think this is the chance to succeed in securing the release of prisoners, and I believe the other party is also willing and ready.”
Both parties have confirmed that they are sending high-level delegations to Geneva, but Hadi’s officials believe that expectations of a breakthrough are low.
Meanwhile, Abdullah al-Olaimi, head of Hadi’s office and a member of the Geneva delegation, said that “the consultations will be indirect, unless there is some progress that can be made directly.”
People of Yemen have been under massive attacks by the Saudi-led coalition for over three years. Since March 2015, Saudi Arabia and some of its Arab allies have been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to the fugitive former president, a close ally of Riyadh.
Over 15,000 Yemenis, including thousands of women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.