Yemen Peace Talks: Ansarullah Delegation in Geneva
Local Editor
A delegation of Yemeni revolutionaries headed Sunday for UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva as their forces gained ground by seizing a provincial capital near the border with Saudi Arabia.
The delegation left from capital Sanaa aboard a UN plane for the Swiss city, where the talks are due to start Monday, a day late.
The UN peace envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said in a statement that Monday would see the start of "preliminary inclusive consultations" bringing together the country's warring factions for the first time. He appealed for participants to take part "in good faith and without pre-conditions, and in a climate of trust and mutual respect."
Abdulmalik Agra, a member of the rebels' political council, told AP that its group included a Houthi leader, Mehdi Mashat, official Ali Hamza al-Houthi, and three others - including men from the party of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh. They decided to attend the talks after the UN agreed to broaden the structure so they were not based solely on two warring sides. Members of the Socialist and Haqq parties were also joining.
A day earlier, a plane meant to carry the revolutionaries and their allies to the talks left Yemen without the delegates on board, casting doubt on whether the meetings would go forward as planned.
The delegation representing the government of embattled President Abed Rabbou Mansour Hadi arrived in Geneva Saturday morning.
The revolutionaries took control of al-Hazm, the main city of Jawf province.
The city lies only 150 km south of the border with Saudi Arabia.
In Geneva Sunday for preliminary meetings, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to take part in the opening session of the talks. He has said the negotiations are aimed at securing a cease-fire, and stepping up humanitarian aid deliveries.
The delegations would "start with what we call proximity talks in two separate rooms with the hope they can be brought together," UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters in Geneva.
The Security Council this week heard a report from new UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien describing Yemen's humanitarian crisis as "catastrophic," with 20 million civilians needing aid - 80 percent of the population.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team
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