Dubai: A new round of UN-brokered Yemeni peace talks could be held by the end of this month in Kuwait, a government official said on Monday.
The talks would be accompanied by a ceasefire, said the Yemeni official who requested anonymity.
Yemen’s warring parties who met with UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad last week have agreed on “the principle of holding a new round of talks in late March in Kuwait,” the official said.
The UN envoy wrote on his Facebook page late on Sunday that he held “positive and constructive talks” in rebel-held Sanaa with the Iran-backed Al Houthis and their allies - supporters of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
“Preparations are ongoing for the next round of peace talks on Yemen,” he wrote. He was reported by Al Sharq Al Awsat as saying that “there are indications of a Yemeni-Yemeni agreement to hold the next round of talks in Kuwait”.
“There are importants signs looming in the political horizon with the blessings of internal and external [players],” he was quoted as saying.
A resumption of talks must be accompanied by a “week-long truce that could be renewed if respected,” the official who spoke anonymously said, adding that discussions should focus on the implementation of UN Security Council resolution 2216.
The resolution states that the rebels must withdraw from seized territories and disarm, before peace talks can progress.
- with inputs from AFP
