Dubai: Oman is mediating between Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi’s government and Al Houthi rebels over a UN plan to resume peace talks in the war-torn country, a Yemeni government official said on Tuesday.
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdul Malek Al Mekhlafi was in Muscat at Oman’s invitation to discuss ways to bridge differences with the Iran-backed rebels, who control the capital Sana’a with their allies, over plans presented by the UN special envoy to Yemen last week.
The plans, presented by UN Special Envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad during a regional tour last week, included confidence building measures such as turning over the Red Sea port of Hodeidah to a neutral party, opening Sana’a airport for civilian traffic and paying civil servants’ salaries.
The Omani side has conveyed to Al Mekhlafi Al Houthis’ willingness to accept this plan but also its insistence that civil servants’ salaries be paid first.
“The differences regarding Hodeidah now centre on the identity of the neutral party which will manage the port,” the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told Reuters.
