The UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said on Monday that the talks will kick off on December 15 in Switzerland in a bid to end a nine-month Saudi war which has killed over 7,500 people.
Ould said he had met with officials from the ruling Houthi Ansarullah movement in the Omani capital of Muscat and have gained their approval for the agenda of the negotiations.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, the spokesman for the Houthis, confirmed that the movement had discussed “the venue and the date for the talks” with Ould, saying, “Ways for a ceasefire and subsequent confidence-building steps were also discussed, and we expressed our openness to conduct a responsible and serious dialogue.”
Ould said he had also discussed the talks with Abd Rabbuah Mansour Hadi, Yemen’s fugitive former president. Saudi Arabia has been carrying out unrelenting airstrikes against the Yemeni population in order to undermine the Houthis and restore Hadi to power.
An official from Hadi’s office said he and the Houthis have also agreed on a humanitarian ceasefire before the talks, saying steps will also be taken to free prisoners and lift the siege on the cities.
Yemen has been under the crippling Saudi air and sea blockade since Riyadh started its attacks on March 26. Yemeni monitoring groups say the aggression has killed more than 7,500 people with most of them civilians while the United Nations puts the death toll at 6,000, saying around 1,000 women and children have been killed as a result of the attacks.
Mohammed Abdulsalam, spokesman for Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement, warned about the spread of terrorism and growth of Saudi-backed Takfiri militant outfits in Yemen’s southern provinces.
Mohammed Abdulsalam Ansarullah movement spokesman
During a meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed in the Yemeni capital city of Sana’a on Sunday evening, Mohammed Abdulsalam warned about the spread of terrorism and growth of Saudi-backed Takfiri militant outfits in Yemen’s southern provinces, Arabic-language al-Masirah satellite television network reported.
Abdulsalam further highlighted Ansarullah’s solidarity with the southern Yemenis. He described the status quo in southern Yemen as “a daunting challenge,” and voiced his movement’s full preparedness to help establish stability and security there.
The top Ansarullah official also lauded the efforts by the Yemeni army forces and fighters from allied Popular Committees to restore tranquility across Yemen, criticizing Saudi aerial attacks together with assaults by al-Qaeda- and Daesh-affiliated terrorists for undermining the relative calm in the northern Yemeni provinces.Press TV reported.
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