Yemen foreign minister reveals UN talks to be postponed
Khalid Al Yamani says Houthis are to blame
Mina Al Droubi
September 8, 2018
Updated: September 8, 2018 01:38 AM
Yemen foreign minister Khaled Al Yamani called on the international community to put more pressure on the Houthis (Reuters)
UN-led Yemen consultations were set to be formally postponed on Saturday having failed to secure participation of representatives of the Houthi delegation.
The Sanaa faction failed to show up in Geneva after raising a series of last-minute demands and according to the Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled Al Yamani the UN envoy would temporarily halt the process at a press conference on Saturday.
“As a results of the [Houthis] absence the process will be postponed and we look forward to more serious and engaging process in the future,” Mr Al Yamani told the National.
Consultations in Geneva were supposed to convene on Thursday but were postponed as the rebels’ representatives were refusing to fly from Yemen on Friday. The government negotiating team arrived in the Swiss city on Wednesday and have held several informal meetings with the UN special envoy for Yemen, Mr Griffiths.
The Yemeni minister, who is leading the government delegation, called on the international community to put more pressure on the Houthi rebels to engage in UN led consultations.
“We don't want to jump into conclusion that the Houthis are not ready to achieve durable peace on Yemen,” he said, adding that peace can only be achieved “when we're sitting through a table of negotiations.”
The Houthis first claimed that they had not received authorisation to fly out of Sanaa, the Yemeni capital they seized in 2014, before demanding that wounded rebel fighters be transported to Oman for treatment and a guarantee the delegation would be allowed to return to Yemen.
The Saudi-led military coalition supporting President Abdrabu Mansur Hadi controls Yemen's airspace after intervening in the civil war in 2015.
Diplomatic sources in Geneva told The National on Friday that all sides were working towards getting the Houthi delegation to travel to Geneva.
Mr Griffiths is scheduled to speak at 10am on Saturday in Geneva.
His spokesman was not available to comment late Friday.
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