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Yemen peace talks start in Kuwait after delay

Thursday, 21 April 2016 5:47 PM [ Last Update: Thursday, 21 April 2016 5:45 PM ]

This December 15, 2015 file photo shows a general view of the room at the opening of Yemen peace talks on in Magglingen, Northern Switzerland. (AFP photo)

The United Nations has officially opened delayed peace talks meant to end more than a year of deadly conflict in Yemen.

After repeated delays over alleged truce violations, Yemeni delegates started negotiations in Kuwait City, live televisions images showed Thursday.

The UN had planned the talks to open on Monday, but both representatives of Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and allies on one side and the Saudi-backed camp of resigned president Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, had accused each other of violating a truce deal on the ground.

Previous rounds of talks mediated by the UN have effectively failed to reduce hostilities between the two camps.

The pro-Houthi al-Masirah TV channel said Thursday that the Ansarullah delegation had set off for Kuwait to attend the talks.

Mohammad Ali al-Houthi, the head of Yemen’s so-called Supreme Revolutionary Committee, said upon flying to Kuwait that his delegation goes to the talks with the hope that the “bloody aggression” under way by Saudi Arabia would be halted.

He said Yemen still considers itself part of the Arab world and that the cessation of hostilities in Yemen could not only benefit the Yemenis but it would also benefit the entire Arab nations.

Yemen has seen almost daily attacks by Saudi fighter jets since late March 2015 with internal sources putting the toll of the bloody aggression at more than 9,500. Hundreds of thousands have also been displaced across the country as a result of the illegal campaign which is meant to restore power to Hadi, an ally of Riyadh.

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