Dubai: The leader of Yemen’s Al Houthis said on Thursday his movement had given the United Nations the names of its delegates to UN-sponsored peace talks due to start in Switzerland next week.
The Iran-allied Al Houthis and President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s internationally-recognised government have accepted a UN invitation to hold the talks aimed at ending nearly nine months of fighting that has killed almost 6,000 people.
“We handed over the names of our negotiating delegation to the UN,” Abdul Malik Al Houthi said in a statement posted on the group’s Facebook page.
The statement said a draft agenda for talks had been agreed with the United Nations and called for a “serious and responsible dialogue”. Forces loyal to Hadi, backed by air strikes and ground forces from a mainly Gulf Arab coalition, have been locked for nine months in a civil war with Al Houthis, who rule the capital Sana’a and other cities.
The Al Houthi militant group says it led a “revolution” against the “corrupt” government of Hadi, but his administration and Gulf allies accuse them of carrying out a coup and advancing Iranian influence in the Arab world.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Malek Al Mekhlafi said on Wednesday that a seven-day ceasefire expected to start with peace talks next week would be renewed if the Al Houthi militias abided by it.
Also on Wednesday, unknown attackers blew up an abandoned Catholic Church in the southern Yemeni port city of Aden days after Daesh militants assassinated the city’s governor.
Meanwhile, Hadi has said he values efforts and sacrifices being made by the Arab coalition, particularly Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
“Peace is our desire and persistent preoccupation; a peace that is based on implementation of the UN Security Council resolution 2216 without any procrastination or delay so as to lay foundations for a secure future,” Hadi said while chairing on Thursday an exceptional meeting with senior security and military commanders.
He emphasised that the Yemeni people had no longer been able to endure more suffering and wars “waged by proxy rebel groups at the service of alien whims that target our society, stability and regional environ”.
Hadi updated the commanders on the latest developments in the political sphere and battlefield as well as efforts being made to achieve peace and relaunch the political process.
“We will always remain advocates of peace despite the destruction and killing inflicted by the rebel Al Houthi and Saleh militias upon our nation and people,” he affirmed.
- With inputs from WAM
