UN Envoy Says Expects Yemen Talks by Mid-November
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The UN special envoy to Yemen said on Sunday he expects talks between its warring parties to begin by mid-November, eight months after the start of a messy Saudi-led attack that has killed thousands and caused a humanitarian crisis.
The conflict pits the Houthis and army units loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh against armed groups who support fugitive former President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi alongside a Saudi-led Arab coalition.
"I expect that before mid-November, God willing, a date will be specified and I expect that the dialogue must begin before mid-November, as a minimum, 15 November," UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told Reuters in Bahrain.
All major combatants have publicly agreed to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2216. Houthis have already had discussions with the United Nations in Oman's capital Muscat on the issue.
"I have a team in Riyadh and before that they were in Muscat, exactly to reach agreement on the date and venue and the subjects that will be discussed within the context of UN Security Council Resolution 2216," Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Saturday that he believed the coalition's Yemen campaign was in its "final phase" after military gains against the Houthis and given their willingness for talks.
However, the Houthis and Saleh's forces still hold most of the country's western highlands, its most populous region including the capital Sana'a. Ould Sheikh Ahmed said he did not believe the coalition intended to take Sana'a by force.
"I can say simply what I have been told, but I can't speak for the coalition. I don't think anybody has any intention to enter into Sana'a. People prefer to have a political solution."
