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Hadi delegation to rejoin Yemen peace talks: UN envoy

Sunday, 22 May 2016 9:29 AM [ Last Update: Sunday, 22 May 2016 9:29 AM ]

United Nations Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed attends a news conference in Kuwait City on April 26, 2016. ©Reuters

The UN special envoy for Yemen says representatives of the former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, will come back to negotiations aimed at putting an end to the conflict gripping the Arabian Peninsula country.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Sunday that Hadi had agreed to end its latest boycott of the discussions after mediation by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

On April 21, the UN-brokered peace talks started in Kuwait City between Houthi Ansarullah fighters and their allies in one side and loyalists to Hadi on the other side. The talks came against the backdrop of an open-ended shaky ceasefire that began on April 10 in the impoverished state.

The Saudi-backed delegation, however, suspended its participation in the negotiations on May 17, saying it would only return if the Houthis withdrew from areas under their control and handed over their weapons.

However, Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, a representative of the pro-Hadi side, said on Twitter that its delegation had agreed to give the peace talks a “last chance.”

“We have fixed all the references. This is a first step on the path for a real peace that leads to implementing Resolution 2216 beginning with withdrawals, surrender of weapons and the restoration of state institutions,” he said, referring to the resolution adopted by the UN Security Council last April.

Policemen and people search for victims at the site of a Saudi airstrike on the police headquarters in Sana’a, Yemen, January 18, 2016. ©AP

Yemen has seen almost daily military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March 2015. More than 9,400 people have been killed and at least 16,000 others injured since the onset of the aggression.

Saudi Arabia launched its offensive against Yemen in a bid to bring Hadi, a staunch ally of the Riyadh regime, back to power and undermine the Houthi Ansarullah movement.

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