Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi backed by mainly
Gulf Arab states have been locked in eight months of civil war with the
Iran-allied Houthis who rule the capital Sanaa.
Members of
the pro-government Popular Committees militia man a checkpoint at an
entrance of Yemen"s southern port city of Aden December 3, 201
The United Nations envoy to
Yemen touched down in the southern port city of Aden on Saturday to
discuss prospects for peace talks between the embattled Aden-based
government and Houthi forces, a source close to Yemen's president said.
Forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi
backed by mainly Gulf Arab states have been locked in eight months of
civil war with the Iran-allied Houthis who rule the capital Sanaa.
Previous
U.N.-led efforts to solve the crisis through dialogue have failed as
battles rage across the country and Saudi-led warplanes bomb positions
of Yemen's ascendant Houthi group and its Yemeni army allies.
"The U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed
arrived at Aden international airport today ahead of a meeting with
President Hadi aimed at laying the groundwork for the Geneva II talks," a
source in the presidency said.
It is the first
time the envoy has paid an official visit to Aden, which Hadi declared
the temporary capital after Arab coalition forces seized it from the
Houthis in July.
Diplomats say the talks may take place this month in Switzerland, but some Yemeni officials have expressed scepticism.
The
Houthi group swept Hadi from power in February as part of it what
called a revolution against corruption and accused Hadi of being
beholden to Saudi Arabia and the West.
Gulf Arab
countries led by Saudi Arabia intervened as the civil war worsened in
March, fearing the group was acting as a proxy for its regional rival
Iran, but making few gains toward retaking the capital in a war that has
killed over 5,700 people.
Mistrust runs deep
between Yemen's warring parties, with the Houthis believing the
government wants to take back power by force and Hadi officials saying
that the Houthis are refusing to withdraw from main cities as required
by a U.N. Security Council Resolution passed in March.
"The
government is ready for talks but the other side isn't, and its actions
on the ground contradict their statements that they support a peaceful
solution," Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi, who was named as foreign minister by Hadi last week, told Reuters.
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