Peace talks in Kuwait a ‘mirage’: Yemeni president

By Mohamed al-Samie

RIYADH

At a meeting in Saudi capital Riyadh with UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi described Kuwait-hosted peace talks between Yemen’s warring camps as a "mirage".

"Since entering into the peace consultations in Kuwait, we [the government] have met all our obligations," he said in a statement.

"But we’ve received nothing in return from the coup militia," he added, referring to the Shia Houthi militant group, which overran capital Sanaa in late 2014.

Late last month, UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait were suspended for a two-week period. They are expected to resume later this week.

The Houthis and their allies, Hadi asserted, "are only interested in securing a halt to [Saudi-led coalition] airstrikes so they can continue their aggression".

He said the preconditions for peace were "clear and specific", citing UN Security Council Resolution 2216 -- which calls on the Houthis to lay down their arms and withdraw from captured cities -- and the 2011 Gulf Initiative for Yemen.

Abdullah al-Alimi, a member of the government’s negotiating team, told Anadolu Agency that his delegation would "not be in Kuwait on Friday" when peace talks are expected to resume following a two-week hiatus.

At a meeting with Ould Cheikh, al-Alimi reportedly reiterated the government’s rejection of a UN-proposed "roadmap" that calls for the formation of a unity government to include Houthi representatives.

- Fighting continues

Meanwhile, fierce clashes were reported on Tuesday between government troops and Houthi militiamen in Yemen’s northern Al-Jawf province.

Abdullah al-Ashraf, a spokesman for Yemen’s pro-Hadi "popular resistance", told Anadolu Agency that government forces had repelled several attacks by the Houthis and their allies in Al-Jawf’s Al-Maslub and Al-Mutun areas.

"The Houthis and allied forces loyal to [former President Ali Abdullah] Saleh briefly managed to take some territory before being repulsed by the army and [pro-Hadi] resistance forces," al-Ashraf said.

Yemen has been racked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.

Backed by Saudi-led coalition airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south -- including provisional capital Aden -- but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.

In April, the government and the Houthis entered into UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait aimed at resolving the conflict, in which more than 6,400 people have been killed and another 2.5 million rendered homeless, according to UN figures.

Up until this point, however, the negotiations -- which are expected to resume on Friday after a two-week hiatus, have largely failed to produce any breakthroughs.