UN says talks on conflicts in Yemen, Syria to be held amid Iran-Saudi row

The United Nations says peace talks on Yemen and Syria planned to take place later in January are still on schedule despite recent developments in the region after Saudi Arabia decided to sever its ties with Iran.

UN spokesman Michele Zaccheo told reporters during a briefing in the Swiss city of Geneva on Tuesday that UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is travelling to the region on Wednesday, making a first stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

“Apart from that I can only say that at present the mid-January talks are still on schedule, so... It’s still on the schedule that these would begin on the 14th of January, but there is, the location is to be determined,” the UN official said.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3, following demonstrations held in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad by protesters expressing anger at the Saudi regime for the execution of top Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Some people mounted the walls of the consulate in Mashhad. Incendiary devices were hurled at the embassy in Tehran. Some 50 people were detained over the transgression.

Riyadh started its campaign against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to undermine the country’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring back to power the former fugitive president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is strongly aligned with Riyadh.

Elsewhere in his remarks, Zaccheo said the intra-Syrian talks would also be held according to the schedule.

“The intra-Syrian talks are scheduled, the planning is going ahead as scheduled... At present, the schedule is not being affected, a lot of the stakeholders are commenting on this and saying that the process is moving ahead on that, on the established dates. Of course, it's possible that this will change... As you know, the special envoy for Syria is in the region now and having talks, but I would expect that things are going ahead as planned. Those are all the indications at the moment,” he said.

The UN says it seeks negotiations between Damascus and foreign-backed opposition to begin in Geneva on January 25 in another attempt to end the bloody conflict in the Arab country.

UN envoy visit to Riyadh

UN Special Envoy for Syria Staffan de Mistura, who visited Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, also said Saudis have said they want the talks on Syria to go ahead, despite tensions with Iran.

“There is a clear determination on the Saudi side that the current regional tensions will not have any negative impact on the Vienna momentum and on the continuation of the political process that the UN, together with the International Syria Support Group, intend to start in Geneva soon,” he said in a statement after talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir and the foreign-backed opposition.

On December 18, 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously approved a resolution according to which an international road map was set for a peace process in Syria. The approval came after peace talks in Vienna, Austria.

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