UN envoy Martin Griffiths
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths said on Saturday that he will head to Oman and Sanaa to hold talks with the Houthi rebel group as part of efforts to hold peace talks for resolving the 4-year conflict in the Arab country.
Speaking in a press conference held in the UN headquarters in Geneva, Griffiths said it was premature to talk about holding a fresh round of peace talks between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels.
UN-sponsored peace talks were scheduled to be held in Geneva on Thursday, but Houthi negotiators failed to show up, citing that they did not have guarantees for safe return.
Yemen's foreign minister accused the Houthi movement on Saturday of "trying to sabotage the negotiations" that ended without their attendance in Geneva and said that the U.N. envoy had not been firm enough with them.Yemen's Houthi movement failed to attend peace talks, but the U.N. Special Envoy Martin Griffiths said earlier that it did not represent a "fundamental blockage in the process" and that he would meet soon with their representatives in Sanaa and in Muscat, Oman."We want the U.N. to be firmer in bringing the other party to the negotiations", Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani told a press conference before leaving the Swiss city after three days of talks with Griffiths on confidence-building measures including prisoner releases. Yemen peace talks collapse in Geneva after Houthi no-show
Yemen accuses Houthis of trying to 'sabotage' peace talks, blame UN envoy
“We just did not make it. It's not the first time that we have difficulties in a Yemeni context. Criticizing one or the other doesn't help Yemen. Things happen,” Griffiths said.
He noted that he received assurances from all parties on the cessation of hostilities, especially in the western Al-Hudaydah province.
The UN envoy described his consultations with Yemeni government delegation in Geneva as “fruitful”.
Yemen's Houthi movement failed to attend peace talks, but the U.N. Special Envoy said on Saturday that it did not represent a "fundamental blockage in the process" and that he would meet soon with their representatives in Sanaa and in Muscat, Oman."They would have like to get here, we didn't make conditions sufficiently correct to get them here", U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths told a news conference, declining to elaborate.Agreement has been reached for medical evacuations from the Houthi-held Yemeni capital of Sanaa, to start in a week with a flight to Cairo, he said. Yemen talks in Geneva stall amid Houthis' absenceFor 5th consecutive day, Yemen’s Aden rocked by protestHouthi missile destroyed over SW Saudi Arabia; 26 injured
Yemen peace talks collapse in Geneva after Houthi no-show
He added that the talks tackled the release of prisoners, the reopening of Sanaa airport and economic issues as well as the humanitarian situation especially in the central Taiz province.
Impoverished Yemen has remained wracked by conflict since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital of Sanaa.
The conflict escalated the following year when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a wide-ranging air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen.
The violence has devastated the country’s infrastructure, prompting the UN to describe the situation as “one of the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times.”