Yemeni foes agree to UN’s peace talks agenda

United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed (centre) arrives to give a press conference at the Information ministry in Kuwait City on April 26, 2016. The Kuwaiti emir met with Yemen's peace negotiators and urged them to forge ahead with a peace agreement. AFP / YASSER AL-ZAYYATShow less

KUWAIT CITY // Yemen’s warring factions on Tuesday agreed to an agenda for United Nations-backed peace negotiations after pressure from world powers.

The talks to end fighting between the Iran-allied Houthis and supporters of Abdrabu Mansur Hadi, the internationally recognised president, were launched last week but were suspended on Sunday amid bickering about flights over Yemen by the Saudi-led coalition supporting Mr Hadi.

The Houthis argued that the flights constituted a breach of the truce that began on April 10 to facilitate the talks.

The Hadi government insisted that the flights were intended to prevent the Houthis and their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, from moving heavy weapons.

Differences over the agenda made it difficult for the two sides to start real negotiations to end the war, which started after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014.

The conflict has killed more than 6,200 people, wounded 35,000 and displaced more than 2.5 million people.

The two sides had agreed last week to a five-point agenda outlined by the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, but remained divided over whether to start with a unity government or to focus on a Houthi withdrawal from the cities and the handover of their weapons.

Delegates said the two sides had agreed to work in two parallel committees. “The talks will start [‘] to discuss this agenda,” said a delegate.

Yemeni foreign minister Abdel-Malek Al Mekhlafi said the agenda provided for the Houthis to leave cities they seized since 2014, allowing the government to retake control of the state.

“We consider approval by the Houthis and the General People’s Congress party [of Mr Saleh] of the agenda as a good step that can lead to positive results,” said Mr Mekhlafi.

Kuwait’s emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, whose country is hosting the talks, had entered the dispute, helping to smooth differences over the truce and over the agenda, delegates said.

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and ISIL have exploited the crisis to expand their control in Yemen and to recruit more followers.

Mr Hadi’s supporters – backed by the Saudi-led coalition, including the UAE – have attacked Al Qaeda strongholds in southern Yemen over the past two days, driving them from the Hadramout provincial capital Mukalla and from key Arabian Sea ports.

A suspected US drone strike killed an Al Qaeda leader and five of his aides on Tuesday, residents said.

Abu Sameh Al Zinjibari and others died when a missile struck their moving car in Amoudiya, a village near the Al Qaeda-held towns of Jaar and Zinjibar.

Delegates said Tuesday’s talks followed pressure from the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.

“The diplomats were quite tough and used harsh language, telling them that peace in Yemen was important for regional security and that no one would be allowed to leave Kuwait without an agreement,” one source said.

* Reuters and Agence France-Presse