Saudis Not Serious in Yemeni Peace Talks: Ansarullah Negotiator


TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior member of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, who is involved in UN-brokered peace talks to resolve the crisis in the Arabian Peninsula country, said the Saudi side is not serious in the negotiations and evades major issues.

Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency, Hamid Razzaq emphasized that the Saudi negotiating team in the peace talks underway in Kuwait is not serious in pursuing the resolution of the Yemeni crisis.

“Currently, the UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is trying to issue a statement that endorses the stability of a ceasefire, but it seems that Riyadh’s negotiators are not agreed with the statement and are trying to evade the issue,” he said.

While the negotiations are underway in Kuwait, the Saudi-led coalition is continuing its acts of aggression and bombarding Yemen’s various regions, like the southwestern province of Taiz, the Ansarullah negotiator added.

Razzaq went on to say that Saudis are making every attempt to achieve in the negotiations what they have failed to gain in the battlefield.

Back on December 15, an Ansarullah delegation and Hadi’s representatives began UN-brokered peace talks in Switzerland with the aim of reaching a solution to the country’s conflict. The talks led to a shaky truce that was repeatedly breached mainly by Saudis before they officially announced an end to it on January 2.

The Houthi Ansarullah movement took state matters into their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi, which threw Yemen into a state of uncertainty and threatened a total security breakdown in the country, where an al-Qaeda affiliate is present.

Saudi Arabia launched an aggression on Yemen in late March 2015 in a bid to return Hadi to power. Nearly 9,400 Yemenis, including 4,000 women and children, have lost their lives in the deadly military campaign.

Yemenis, in return, have been carrying out retaliatory attacks on the Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside Saudi Arabia.