Sana’a: Yemeni peace talks in Switzerland were halted on Friday after the country’s Iran-backed Al Houthi rebel delegation suspended all meetings with the internationally recognised government in protest at alleged cease-fire violations, members of Yemen’s two warring sides said.
Al Houthis said they would not resume talks unless the UN “condemned government breaches” of the week-long truce, the delegates said. Al Houthi fighters have also ignored the cease-fire agreement.
Speaking on Yemeni state TV, the Information Minister, Mohammad Abdul Majid, denied that the government violated the cease-fire and accused the Al Houthis of “making up excuses” to delay the peace process.
The peace negotiations began Tuesday at the Swiss Olympic House in the village of Macolin, a training center for elite athletes. Police armed with automatic weapons patrolled outside the facility, which was cordoned off with metal barriers requiring journalists to keep about 50 meters away.
The UN mediator has sought to keep a lid on communications about the goings-on inside - with mixed results. Officials have never fully acknowledged the location of the talks, and Ahmad Fawzi, a UN spokesman in Geneva, has said participants signed a “non-disclosure” agreement pledging not to speak to the media until they were over.
Yemen has been torn by fighting pitting Al Houthis and army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against pro-government forces, which are backed by a US-supported, Saudi-led coalition, as well as southern separatists, religious extremists and other militants.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity in line with regulations.
Meanwhile, Saudi state news agency SPA cited the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states as saying two missiles had been fired from Yemen towards Saudi Arabia in the latest fighting.
The coalition said the first was repelled and fell inside Yemeni territory near Marib and the other fell in a desert area east of the Saudi city of Najran.
“The coalition,.. will not abide by the ceasefire for long in the shadow of this threat to the kingdom’s territory,” it said in a statement.
