Yemen government and rebels to start talks separately

UN says envoy will shuttle between delegations in Geneva as peace initiative is pushed back to Monday.

GENEVA // The UN special envoy to Yemen will hold separate “proximity” talks with the country’s two main warring parties in Geneva on Monday, in the hope of bringing them to the same table eventually.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has convened the talks, expected to last two or three days, to try to end more than two months of war between Iranian-backed Houthis and forces loyal to president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia.

The UN said on Friday that the start of the talks had been pushed back by a day to allow time for some of the delegates to arrive.

“The talks will start as proximity talks, which means the envoy will be shuttling between the two groups in the hope that he can bring them together during these consultations,” UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said on Friday.

The UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon will attend the opening day of the talks, which Mr Fawzi said were the start of a process.

“They are the first consultations to involve the different sides of the Yemeni conflict since hostilities resumed, and therefore mark an important step as the parties, we hope, embark on a road toward a settlement,” he said.

“The special envoy hopes, and the secretary general hopes, that the Geneva consultation on Yemen will create a new dynamic that will build confidence between the Yemeni actors and yield concrete benefits for the population, especially reduced violence and increased access to humanitarian aid and basic services.”

Mr Hadi insists that the talks be limited to discussing the implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2216, which calls for the Houthis to quit Yemen’s main cities and recognise his authority.

The Houthi fighters, togther with troops loyal to veteran former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, have seized large parts of Yemen including the capital Sanaa and much of the port city of Aden.

Mr Hadi fled to Riyadh from Aden after the rebels advanced on Aden in late March, prompting a regional Saudi-led coalition to launch an air campaign to push them back. The coalition jets have struck at Houthi military targets across the country, including in their northern stronghold near the Saudi border.

The coalition denied claims that it carried out a strike on the historic old quarter of the capital on Friday, suggesting a rebel ammunition cache may have exploded.

At least five people were reported killed and three houses destroyed.

“For sure we did not conduct any operation inside the city,” said Brigadier General Ahmed Al Assiri, the coalition spokesman.

The area, a Unesco World Heritage site, has been inhabited for 2,500 years and Brig Gen Assiri said “we know that those sites are very important”.

He said rebels may have been hiding weapons or ammunition in the area.

“Several days before they had an explosion in one of their storage” areas, he said. “So it could be one of these.”

He said the coalition pilots did not strike civilian areas even if anti-aircraft fire was directed at them.

“We just tell our pilots to avoid the positions, to avoid the firing.”

Brig Gen Assiri said one Saudi civilian was killed and another wounded when a rocket fired from Yemen hit a mosque during Friday prayers in the Saudi border region.

“They fired one missile, a Katyusha ... at the time of Friday prayer,” he said.

At least 39 people – civilians and troops – on the Saudi side of the frontier have now lost their lives in shelling and border skirmishes since March 26, when the coalition began bombing the Houthi rebels.

Last Saturday the coalition said it shot down a Scud missile fired from Yemen and Brig Gen Assiri said the alliance was still hunting others that might be in rebel hands.

“We destroyed most of them,” Brig Gen Assiri said, adding that 300 missiles of various types belonged to the Yemeni army before the war.

About 10 per cent of the rebel missile arsenal has yet to be located, he said.

“We work hard to find them. It is not an easy task.”

The ongoing conflict has created a humanitarian crisis in Yemen, with large numbers of people displace and limited supplies of food, water, fuel and medical aid.

More than 3,000 people have been affected by an outbreak of dengue fever since late March, with three deaths, the World Health Organisation said.

“However, there are unconfirmed reports we are verifying that suggest cases and deaths, especially in Aden, could be much higher,” a spokesman said.

* Reuters and Agence France-Presse