Houthis ‘not serious’ at UN talks, says Yemen government
A Yemeni government official said on Saturday that Houthi militants were “not serious” on finding common ground to end the devastating war, three days into UN-brokered talks in Sweden.
Yemen’s foreign minister has meanwhile said the governmentcontrolled city of Aden could be home to the country’s main airport, amid talks to reopen the militant-held international airport in the capital Sanaa.
“We are ready to reopen Sanaa International Airport today... but we have a vision that Aden will be the sovereign airport of Yemen,” Khaled Al-Yamani told AFP in his first interview since the talks opened in Sweden on Thursday.
“If the other side accepts ... flights could land in Aden and leave to Sanaa, Hodeida, other airports.”
Yamani spoke on the sidelines of UN-brokered talks in the rural village of Rimbo, where warring Yemeni parties are gathered under the auspices of the UN.
A Houthi negotiator earlier said Yemen’s main port city should be declared a “neutral zone” and the UN could play a role in Sanaa airport. He declined to say who will control the city if both forces leave.
The Yemeni government of Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and Iranbacked Houthi militants are in the rural town of Rimbo for what UN officials expect will be a week of negotiations.
“Expectations stem from experience, and from experience I would say no, they are not serious,” said Rana Ghanem, a member of the government delegation to the talks.
“But our hope ... is that this will help alleviate the tension, and alleviate the suffering of the Yemeni people,” said Ghanem, the only woman in either delegation.
The last round of talks in 2016 broke down in Kuwait after more than three months of negotiations.
A plan to host the warring parties in Geneva collapsed in September after the militants refused to leave the capital Sanaa, citing safety concerns.
Government representatives, militant spokesmen and UN Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths have all said the talks are not aimed at finding a political solution to the conflict.
Both Yemeni parties have threatened to leave the talks if certain demands are not met.
Ghanem confirmed the two parties had not yet met face-to-face, with Griffiths and his team shuttling between the delegations. The feuding sides had, however, been chatting “informally” in the halls, she said.
Among the issues under discussion are the country’s failed economy, potential humanitarian corridors, a prisoner swap, the reopening of the defunct Sanaa International Airport, and Hodeidah, the militant-held city at the heart of an ongoing government offensive.
The government has held firm to its demand that the Houthis evacuate the western governorate of Hodeidah, home to a Red Sea port that is the entry point for 90 percent of food imports to impoverished Yemen, and hand the area over to security forces.
The militants, however, refused that demand on Friday.