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UN envoy arrives in Yemen’s Hodeida to encourage calm
DUBAI, Nov 23, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – UN envoy Martin Griffiths arrived in the
battleground Yemeni port city of Hodeida on Friday to encourage the warring
sides to exercise restraint ahead of planned peace talks in December.
Griffiths’s visit is intended to send a message to the rebels, who control
the Red Sea city, and the government forces, who have been attacking it with
support from a Saudi-led coalition, to keep a lid on hostilities in the runup
to the talks in Sweden, a UN source told AFP.
Griffiths, who arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Wednesday, met
rebel chief Abdulmalik al-Huthi and addressed “what can facilitate new
discussions in December”, rebel spokesman Mohammed Abdelsalam said.
The conflict in Yemen, which escalated when the Saudi-led coalition
intervened in 2015, has killed thousands of people and left up to 14 million
at risk of famine, according to UN agencies.
In the past week, both sides have expressed support for the UN envoy’s
mission to relaunch peace talks, and the fighting in Hodeida has diminished
despite intermittent clashes.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1547 hrs