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Another unfruitful round of inter-Yemeni peace talks winds up

Sunday, 24 April 2016 9:06 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 24 April 2016 10:15 AM ]

The photo shows a session of peace talks between Yemeni warring sides in Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 21, 2016. ©AFP

The third day of UN-brokered peace talks between representatives from Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and the former government in Kuwait has ended without any progress, reports say.

Sources close to the talks, requesting anonymity, said during the Saturday negotiations, the warring sides could not work out any agreement over numerous issues, amongst them the need to hold the fraying ceasefire that took effect on April 11.

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in a late Saturday statement that the talks were difficult, adding, however that the "atmosphere of the talks is promising and there is common ground to build on in order to reconcile differences.”

“We must realize that these difficult negotiations require time because they aim at reaching a solid agreement on a package of contentious issues so that the solution would be comprehensive and holistic,” the top Mauritanian diplomat said.

United Nations Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed attends a press conference in Kuwait City, Kuwait, April 22, 2016. ©AFP

He further asserted that the delegates agreed to the proposed agenda, and to “work in parallel committees on political and security issues.”

However, a high-profile representative from the administration of ex-president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, dismissed Ahmed’s remarks, noting that members of his delegation did not accept the formation of parallel committees.

“Our delegation has not agreed to form the parallel committees as stated in the UN communiqué,” the unnamed delegate said.

The inter-Yemeni peace negotiations in Kuwait opened late on Thursday. The negotiations had been planned by the UN to open on April 18, but were delayed over accusations of ceasefire violations from the parties to the Yemeni conflict.

A Yemeni boy runs past buildings that were damaged by Saudi airstrikes in the UNESCO-listed old city of Yemeni capital, Sana’a, on March 23, 2016. ©AFP

Houthi Ansarullah fighters took state matters into their own hands after the resignation and escape of Hadi in late January 2015, which threw Yemen into a state of chaos and threatened a total security breakdown in the impoverished country, where al-Qaeda terrorists are gaining more ground as a result of power vacuum.

Saudi Arabia launched its military aggression against Yemen on March 26, 2015, in a bid to bring Hadi — who is a staunch ally of Riyadh — back to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression.

The Saudi strikes have also taken a heavy toll on the country’s facilities and infrastructure, destroying many hospitals, schools, and factories.

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