Houthi Leader:

Next Round of Yemen Talks Could Be in Amman

TEHRAN (defapress) – A second round of negotiations between Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement and forces loyal to fugitive former president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi could be hosted "soon" in the Jordanian capital of Amman, a senior Houthi official said.

News ID: 74808

Date: 07 January 2019 - 12:06

Talks on Yemen's failed economy "could take place soon in Amman or by video conference, which I discussed with the UN envoy," The chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Revolutionary Committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, told AFP after meeting the UN envoy in Sana’a on Sunday.

One month after hard-won peace talks on the Saudi-led war on Yemen, the United Nations faces an uphill battle as it pushes to ensure the warring parties make good on a shaky truce deal.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths, who brokered the breakthrough last month in Sweden, returned to Yemen Saturday with a plan to expedite measures agreed between the ex-government and Houthis.

Key among them is the redeployment of rival forces from Hudaydah, the Red Sea port city crucial for aid and food imports.

Griffiths, scheduled to see pro-Hadi forces in the Saudi capital of Riyadh after meeting the Houthis, hopes to bring the warring sides together later this month to follow up on progress made at December's talks.

Hudaydah was for months the main front line in the Saudi war after Saudi-backed militants and their allies launched an offensive to capture it in June.

But a precarious calm has held in the city since a ceasefire agreement came into force on Dec. 18.

Under the deal, both sides should withdraw from the area.

UN spokesman Farhan Haq Thursday confirmed the cessation of hostilities continued to hold in Hudaydah, despite mutual accusations of violations by both sides.

But there has not yet been progress on the redeployment of forces from Hudaydah city.

The UN Security Council is expected to hear a report from Griffiths next week, although no date has been set.

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