UN evacuates wounded Yemen rebels ahead of peace talks

SANAA: Wounded rebels were flown out of the Yemeni capital Sanaa for medical treatment, a critical step towards bringing warring parties to planned UN- brokered negotiations in Sweden.

The UN- chartered flight had taken off at 6pm for Oman carrying 50 wounded rebels, their escorts and a team of doctors, a security source at Sanaa International Airport told AFP.

The United Nations’ envoy to Yemen, Martin Griffiths, meanwhile landed in Sanaa on a separate plane to meet the Huthi rebels, who have been locked in a four-year conflict with a rival Saudi-led military coalition.

A UN source confirmed wounded rebels had been evacuated from the Yemeni capital in what was a ‘confidence-building measure’ aimed at pushing ahead with negotiations between the Huthis and the coalition this month.

The evacuation marks a key step in kickstarting stalled negotiations as world powers press for an end to the devastating conflict that has pushed Yemen to the brink of famine.

Saudi Arabia and its allies, who back Yemen’s embattled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, had agreed to allow for the evacuation of 50 wounded combatants, 50 escorts and a team of Yemeni and UN doctors to the Omani capital early Monday morning – a condition set by the Huthis for negotiations.

The fate of wounded rebels had been a stumbling block to the start of a previous round of aborted peace talks in Geneva in September.

Journalists were banned from Sanaa International Airport in the hours leading up to the departure of the UN flight on Monday.

Earlier in the day, wounded rebels were transported across the capital, controlled by the Iran- backed insurgents since 2014, in ambulances as they made their way to the long- defunct airport. — AFP