Pressure builds on Yemen’s warring parties

▶ China, France, Russia, UK and US back UN-led peace talks in Sweden

Yemen’s warring parties are being pressed to agree thorny confidencebuilding measures, including the status of a strategic Red Sea port, in consultations on Wednesday ahead of the close of the first UN-led peace talks in two years.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is due to attend final talks in Sweden on Thursday to support his envoy’s efforts and meet delegates from the Iran-aligned Houthi group and the Saudi-backed government of AbdRabbu Mansour Hadi.

Ambassadors from countries that are permanent members of the Security Council – China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States – joined talks with delegation heads on Tuesday, sources said.

Western nations, some of which supply arms and intelligence to the Saudiled coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015, want an end to nearly four years of war that have killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine.

President Donald Trump told Reuters on Tuesday he could abide by legislation being considered by the Senate to end US support for the Saudi-led war effort following outrage over the October 2 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the kingdom’s Istanbul consulate.

“I hate to see what’s going on in Yemen,” Trump said. “But it takes two to tango. I’d want to see Iran pull out of Yemen too. Because, and I think they will.”

The nearly 4-year-old conflict is largely seen in the Middle East as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and arch foe Shi’ite Muslim Iran, which has welcomed the peace efforts.

The Western-backed Sunni Muslim Arab coalition intervened in the civil war to restore Hadi’s government after it was ousted from the capital Sanaa in 2014 by the Houthis, who now control most population centers including the Red Sea city of Hodeidah.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths, trying to avert a full-scale assault on Hodeidah, where coalition forces have massed on the outskirts, is asking both sides to withdraw from the city.

His proposal envisions an interim entity formed to run the city and port, and international monitors deployed.