U.N. aims for June 14 Yemen talks in Geneva, say diplomats
Quote:
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United Nations is planning to convene peace talks between Yemen's warring factions in Geneva on June 14, a date agreed to by the war-torn country's exiled government but not yet supported by Houthi militia, diplomats said on Wednesday.
The U.N. envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, briefed the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors on Wednesday.
Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that while the Riyadh-based Yemeni government had agreed to meet in Geneva on June 14, the Houthis had not yet consented, according to diplomats at the briefing, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Plans for talks in Switzerland last week were postponed due to objections by the Yemeni government, which wants the Houthi militia to first quit Yemen's main cities and recognize President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's authority.
The Houthis, who swept into Yemen's capital Sanaa in September and fanned out across the country, want a ceasefire as a precondition for talks.
An Arab alliance has been bombing the Houthis since March 26 in a bid to restore Hadi to power. The Sunni Muslim states regard the Houthis as a threat to the stability of Yemen, which flanks the world's top oil exporter Saudi Arabia.
Quote:
More than 1 million people were estimated to be internally displaced since mid-March in Yemen as a result of the conflict, a UN spokesman said here Wednesday, citing the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
"The figure of displaced people is likely to increase as we get access to new areas," Stephane Dujarric said at a daily news briefing here. Half of the people displaced are in the northwest in Hajjah Governorate and Al-Dhale'e
Governorate in the South, he added.
The Security Council on Tuesday voiced deep concern about the " grave situation" in Yemen and urged the country's stakeholders to engage as soon as possible in United Nations-brokered inclusive political consultations.
In a statement released Tuesday afternoon, the 15-nation Security Council reaffirmed its call on Yemeni parties to attend the talks and engage "without preconditions and in good faith," including by resolving their differences through
dialogue and consultations, rejecting acts of violence to achieve political goals, and refraining from provocation and all unilateral actions to undermine the political transition.
Quote:
Sanaa: Warplanes from the Saudi-led coalition pounded rebel positions in central Yemen on Thursday as air raids intensified amid attempts to revive UN-proposed talks in Switzerland, witnesses said.
Jets targeted positions held by Shiite Huthi rebels and allied forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh in the city of Taez.
Several rebel posts were hit, the witnesses said.
Warplanes also targeted arms depots at the Hamza military base in Ibb province, they said, and air raids also hit a Huthi base in Dhamar province.
