UN envoy meets with Yemeni southerners

UN envoy to Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, held a meeting on Wednesday in Abu Dhabi with leaders of the separatist Southern Transitional Council to push them to join peace talks to end more three years of fighting across Yemen.

Salem Thabet, a spokesperson for the council, said on Facebook that the UN envoy and his deputy discussed with Aidarous Al Zubaidi, the council’s leader, and other members of the council ideas to end the war in Yemen and the latest security developments in Aden and other areas in southern Yemen.

Tension between the council, that includes key separatist leaders in southern Yemen, and the internationally-recognised government intensified last month when the council set a deadline for Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to dismiss the government or face massive protests in Aden.

The council’s forces claimed victory after two days of clashes with the government’s presidential protection forces in Aden.

The Saudi-led coalition managed to broker a deal between the two parties and end the standoff.

Last month, Ould Shaikh Ahmad had said that he would resign as Yemen envoy before the end of his term at the end of this month. United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to appoint Britain’s Martin Griffiths as the new UN envoy to Yemen.

Meanwhile, fierce fighting erupted between government forces and the Iran-backed Al Houthis on the Jawf, Hajja, Taiz, and Hodeida fronts amid heavy air strikes by Saudi-led coalition fighter jets.

Yemen’s Defence Ministry said that government forces pushed back an Al Houthi offensive in the newly liberated areas in Salo district in the southern city of Taiz. As many as 11 Al Houthis were killed.