Deep Divisions Slow Yemen Truce Effort
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Yemen peace talks under way in the Swiss city of Geneva have hit a deadlock after the parties involved failed to reach an agreement on the number of delegates who can participate in the talks.
A UN official said on Tuesday that every delegation should consist of only 10 members.
"Seven delegation members and three advisers in order to have equality between the two groups," said Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN chief's special envoy for Yemen.
However, the delegation from the Yemeni capital Sana'a, which includes representatives of Houthi movement, consists of 22 members.
And the delegation members are adamant that all 22 take part in the peace negotiations, according to AL Jazeera.
"As a matter of fact, we cannot reduce the number of our delegations because the 22 people here represent a dozen different political parties," Yasser al-Awadi, a member of the Yemeni delegation, said.
"None of them wants to hand over their negotiation power to someone else."
The organizers of the peace talks are struggling to bring together the rival Yemeni factions, with discussions due to conclude on Friday or Saturday.
Awadi said he is not very optimistic about the talks because Saudi Arabia, which backs the exiled government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, is conspicuous by its absence in Geneva.
He said the delegation from Sana'a is looking for a general ceasefire in Yemen, rather than a partial ceasefire for the month of Ramadan, which is why the members want to negotiate with the Saudis.
Tensions between the warring Yemeni sides spilled over at a news conference in Geneva on Thursday when a shoe was thrown at the head of the Houthi delegation, Hamza al-Houthi, an act that is particularly insulting in Arab culture.
