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YEMEN-CONFLICT-DIPLOMACY
Talks on Yemen’s economy could take place in Amman: rebels
SANAA, Jan 7, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Talks to address Yemen’s failed economy could take place
in Jordan’s capital Amman, a rebel leader said Sunday after meeting UN envoy Martin
Griffiths.
Discussions on the war-torn country’s economy “could take place in Amman… which I
discussed with the UN envoy”, Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the rebel Higher
Revolutionary Committee, told AFP. He added that the meeting may alternatively take
place by video conference.
The Huthi rebels later released a statement on Sunday clarifying that the official was
referring to “economic meetings” that could take place and not a second round of peace
negotiations between the rebels and the government.
One month after hard-won peace talks on the Yemen conflict, the United Nations faces
an uphill battle as it pushes to ensure the warring parties make good on a shaky truce
deal.
UN envoy Griffiths, who brokered the breakthrough last month in Sweden, returned to
Yemen Saturday with a plan to expedite measures agreed between the government and Huthi
rebels.
Key among them is the redeployment of rival forces from Hodeida, the Red Sea port
city crucial for aid and food imports.
Griffiths, scheduled to see Yemeni government officials in the Saudi capital Riyadh
after meeting the rebels, hopes to bring the warring sides together later this month —
possibly in Kuwait — to follow up on progress made at December’s talks.
The UN envoy held talks Sunday with Huthi chief Abdelmalik al-Huthi, spokesman
Mohammed Abdelsalam said in a statement carried by rebel Al-Masira TV.
He said that the two addressed “preparations for the upcoming round of talks”.
Rebel-held Hodeida was for months the main front line in the Yemen war after
government forces supported by Saudi Arabia and its allies launched an offensive to
capture it in June.
But a precarious calm has largely held in the city since a ceasefire agreement came
into force on December 18.
Under the deal, both the Iran-backed rebels and pro-government forces should withdraw
from the area.
UN spokesman Farhan Haq on Thursday confirmed the cessation of hostilities continued
to hold in Hodeida, despite mutual accusations of violations by the rebels and Saudi-
backed government.
But there has not yet been progress on the redeployment of loyalist and rebel forces
from Hodeida city.
The UN Security Council is expected to hear a report from Griffiths next week,
although no date has been set.
The war between the Huthis and troops loyal to the internationally-recognised
government escalated in March 2015, when President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi fled to Saudi
and the Riyadh-led coalition intervened.
The conflict has unleashed the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to the
UN, which says 14 million Yemenis are on the brink of famine.
BSS/AFP/AU/08:30 hrs