Warring parties pressed to settle

YEMEN’S warring parties were being pressed to agree on thorny confidence-building measures, including the status of a strategic Red Sea port, in consultations yesterday before the close of the first UN-led peace talks in two years.

UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres is due to attend final talks in Sweden today 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 joined talks with delegation heads on Tuesday, sources said.

Western nations, some of which supply arms and intelligence to the Saudi-led coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015, want an end to nearly four years of war which have killed tens of thousands of people.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday he could abide by legislation being considered by the Senate to end US support for the Saudi-led war effort.

“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.”

The nearly four-year-old conflict is largely seen in the Middle East as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and its rival, Shia Muslim Iran, which has welcomed the peace efforts, continues.

The Western-backed Sunni Muslim Arab coalition intervened in the civil war to restore Hadi’s government which was ousted from the capital Sana’a in 2014 by the Houthis, who now control most population centres. |