Kuwait City // Talks between Yemen’s government and Houthi rebels were delayed on Monday after the insurgents failed to turn up.
The talks in Kuwait aim to end more than 13 months of fighting and come after a ceasefire was introduced last week but has been repeatedly breached.
Representatives of the internationally recognised government as well as the Iran-backed Houthi rebels and their allies — loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh — had been due to gather on Monday morning in Kuwait for the negotiations.
But while a government delegation led by Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek Al Mikhlafi was in Kuwait, the rebel delegation remained in Yemen, protesting over alleged truce violations.
Speaking from Yemen’s rebel-held capital, a source from the Houthi political bureau confirmed the rebels, expected in Kuwait alongside representatives from Mr Saleh’s General People’s Congress party, had not left Sanaa.
The government delegation in Kuwait accused the rebels of “irresponsible behaviour”, and called for the international community to show “firmness in the face of their contempt for the peace efforts”.
“Due to developments over the last few hours, the start of the Yemeni-Yemeni peace negotiations scheduled to begin today ... will be delayed,” UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said, without specifying when they might take place.
“The next few hours are crucial,” he said, calling on all parties to “take their responsibilities seriously and agree on comprehensive solutions”.
The Yemeni government of Abdrabu Mansur Hadi has been supported in its fight against the rebels by an Arab led coalition which includes the UAE.
Led by Saudi Arabia, the coalition launched the intervention after the rebels descended from their northern stronghold in Yemen to seize control of Sanaa in 2014.
As they advanced into other areas, Mr Hadi and other officials fled first to the main southern city of Aden and eventually to Riyadh.
The loyalists have since managed to reclaim large parts of the south, establishing a temporary capital in Aden, but have failed to dislodge the Houthis from Sanaa and other key areas.
Before the UN announcement of a delay, the Saudi government voiced hope for “the success of consultations” in Kuwait.
The UN’s Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged the Houthis and their allies not to “miss this opportunity that could save Yemen the loss of more lives”.
He had earlier expressed hopes for the talks, telling the UN Security Council on Friday that Yemen has “never been so close to peace”.
The ceasefire, in place since April 11, has been repeatedly violated but the rebels, the government and the Saudi-led coalition have avoided talk of it collapsing, as happened with three earlier truces.
The situation across Yemen was relatively calm on Monday despite skirmishes in several areas, local sources said.
*Agence France-Presse
