Kuwait City // Yemen’s government and rebels resumed face-to-face talks on Monday following a two-day interruption after mediation efforts and an appeal by the UN envoy.
Three joint working groups formed last week met on Monday afternoon in an attempt to resume discussion of the key issues, a UN spokesman aid.
These include the withdrawal of the Iran-backed Houthi rebels from areas they occupied in a 2014 offensive, the surrender of weapons, the release of prisoners and detainees and agreeing on a political settlement.
Hours after the talks resumed, Saudi air defences intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen.
The Saudi-led coalition backing the Yemeni government made the announcement and slammed a “dangerous escalation” by the Houthis and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The missile is the first to be reported fired from Yemen at Saudi Arabia since a ceasefire took effect last month ahead of the peace talks in Kuwait.
The coalition said it was cooperating with the international community “to maintain calm and help the Kuwait talks to succeed”.
But it also warned that the coalition “reserves the right to retaliate at the appropriate time and place” if there are further attacks.
The renewed direct talks came a day after mediation by the Kuwaiti foreign minister, ambassadors of the mostly western 18 countries backing the peace process and the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Earlier on Monday, Mr Cheikh Ahmed urged the government and rebels to make concessions to save the talks aimed at ending the 13-month war in the country.
“The participants in the Kuwait negotiations must reflect the aspirations of the Yemeni people. I am confident that Yemenis want an end to the conflict,” Mr Cheikh Ahmed said.
Direct talks broke off on Saturday with the government delegation complaining of a lack of progress and the Houthi rebels accusing the Saudi-led military coalition that backs the government of carrying out air raids.
A source close to the government delegation said the resumption of direct talks came as a result of international diplomatic pressure on the rebels.
But the source also said that no progress was made at Monday’s meetings.
A source close to the rebel delegation said it was due to meet the ambassadors of the 18 countries later Monday.
Yemen’s foreign minister said the talks which began on April 21 had made no headway.
“For the sake of peace, we have accepted all proposals submitted to us in order to progress,” said Abdulmalek Al Mekhlafi, who heads the government delegation.
“But after three weeks, we have nothing in our hands because the other party backed down on its commitments,” Mr Al Mekhlafi wrote on Twitter.
The rebels and their allies have demanded the formation of a consensus transitional government before forging ahead with other issues that require them to surrender arms and withdraw from territories they occupied in 2014.
The talks, which come after two failed peace attempts in June and December last year in Switzerland, are based on a UN Security Council resolution which orders the rebels to withdraw and surrender heavy weaponry they had seized.
There has been mounting international pressure to end the Yemen conflict that the United Nations estimates has killed more than 6,400 people and displaced 2.8 million since March last year.
* Agence France-Presse
