Kuwait Amir urges Yemen rivals to reach political settlement

KUWAIT CITY — The Kuwaiti Amir, His Highness Shaikh Sabah Al Ahmad Al Sabah, met Yemen’s peace negotiators on Tuesday and urged them to forge ahead with a peace agreement to end 13 months of war in the country.

A source close to the talks in Kuwait City, meanwhile, said the two sides finally approved a general framework for the talks and were set to start looking into the central issues.

State-run Juna news agency said Shaikh Sabah met the rebel and government delegations separately and also received UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, but provided no details.

“We heard from the Amir of Kuwait clear assurances with regards to supporting the political process to reach a settlement,” said Mohammed Abdulsalam, head of the Houthi delegation.

The Amir warned that war can only lead to more devastation and bloodshed, Abdulsalam wrote on Facebook. A source close to the government delegation said Sheikh Sabah “urged the two sides to reach a political settlement.” Following the meeting with the Amir, a new session of talks was held, a UN spokesman told.

The UN Security Council on Monday urged all sides in the negotiations to be constructive.

The 15-member council stressed the importance of agreeing on a “roadmap” to implement security measures including the withdrawal of heavy weapons.

Ould Cheikh Ahmed on Monday welcomed “tangible progress” to end hostilities in the war-torn country. “Reports indicate real improvement in the situation which reflects the parties’ commitment to the cessation of hostilities,” he said in a statement at the end of the fifth day of negotiations.

The negotiations represent the best hope in months for a settlement to the conflict.

Meanwhile, a suspected US drone strike killed a local leader in Al Qaeda and five of his aides in southern Yemen on Tuesday, residents said, as Yemeni and Emirati troops pressed their offensive against the militant group.

Abu Sameh Al Zinjibari and other men died when a missile struck their moving car in Amoudiya, a village near the Al Qaeda-controlled towns of Jaar and Zinjibar.

Government and Emirati forces based in the port city of Aden, about 40 kilometre away, have been mounting a ground push against towns held by Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) along a vast stretch of Yemen’s coast.