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UN Envoy Says Yemen Warring Sides Still Not There On Key Issues

UN Envoy Says Yemen Warring Sides Still Not There On Key Issues
folder_openYemen access_time5 years ago
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Local Editor

UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said the country’s warring parties have not yet reached any agreement on the major sticking points on the agenda of the ongoing peace negotiations in Sweden, including the truce in the strategic port city of al-Hudaydah.

Griffiths made the remarks at a press conference in Sweden, where the UN-brokered peace talks continue between delegations from Yemen’s Ansarullah revolutionary movement and the country’s former Saudi-backed regime.

Speaking on Monday -- the fifth day of the discussions -- the UN envoy described al-Hudaydah and Ta’izz as the “two major population zones in Yemen caught in war.”

“I’m hopeful that we can reach agreements on de-escalation to reduce the fighting in both places. I’m hoping that we can, but we are not there yet," he said.

Griffiths also hoped for agreements on a range of issues between Yemen’s warring sides during the current round of talks “in the next couple of days” and more consultations early next year to address the political and security issues.

“We are trying to close the distance so that we can ideally bring these negotiations forward to a public conclusion within the next few days,” he added.

The UN envoy further noted that the participants at the peace talks had exchanged views on the reopening of Sana’a airport, and that they would make an announcement about the release of prisoners in a couple of days.

“All I can say about the optimism, that you have referred to, is that bringing people together for the first time in two years since they sat down together, already having made an agreement on humanitarian issue, the release of prisoners, I think Yemen should be proud of these people sitting around that table today, rather than deriding them,” he said.

Top on the agenda of the talks have been four topics, including the situations in al-Hudaydah and Ta’izz as well as the reopening of the Sana'a airport and a prisoner swap deal.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team

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