UN's Ban to Push Peace Talks with Yemen Warring Sides
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was to meet Sunday with Yemen's warring sides in a bid to push forward peace talks that have made no headway after two months.
Ban, who arrived in Kuwait City late Saturday, was to meet delegates from Houthis and the Yemeni government in a joint session on Sunday, according to a UN spokesman, AFP reported.
UN-backed talks between Houthis, who have seized control of large parts of the Arabian Peninsula country, and allies of the fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi have failed to achieve a breakthrough since starting in Kuwait on April 21.
UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has urged both sides to make concessions to end the conflict, which has cost more than 6,400 lives since March 2015 and displaced 2.8 million people.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed has put forward a peace roadmap that would see the formation of a unity government and the withdrawal and disarmament of the Houthis.
But Hadi loyalists ate insisting the Houthis withdraw from all territory they have seized since 2014 and hand back control of state institutions ahead of any political settlement.
Houthis for their part are demanding an agreement on a consensus president and unity government before signing any deal on military and security issues.
Despite a 15-month-old Saudi-led military intervention in support of Hadi, Houthis and their allies remain in control of swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.
Before the Yemen meeting, Ban was scheduled to hold talks with Kuwait's Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, as well as the former officials of the fugitive government.
