YEMEN-SECURITY/UN-HOUTHIS Houthi delegates arrive in Geneva for Yemen talks

Record ID: 151511

  • Title: YEMEN-SECURITY/UN-HOUTHIS Houthi delegates arrive in Geneva for Yemen talks
  • Date: 16th June 2015
  • Summary: GENEVA, SWITZERLAND (JUNE 16, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CROWN PLAZA HOTEL WHERE THE YEMENI POLITICAL PARTY REPRESENTATIVES, INCLUDING THE HOUTHIS, ARE STAYING HEAD OF HOUTHI DELEGATION, HAMZA AL HOUTHI AL HOUTHI WITH MEMBERS OF YEMENI POLITICAL PARTIES ATTENDING THE TALKS AL HOUTHI WALKING UP THE STAIRS GREETING PEOPLE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) HEAD OF HOUTHI DELEGATION, HAMZA
  • Embargoed: 1st July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Switzerland
  • Country: Switzerland
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA9J5SPJQ5BE9N0JU33ZM278PG3
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: After a 40-hour trip, Yemeni political delegations, including representatives of the Iran-backed Houthis and officials from former president Ali Abdullah Saleh's party, arrived in Geneva early on Tuesday (June 16) for much-anticipated U.N.-sponsored peace talks.
    The delegation of some 18 people representing at least five Yemeni political parties, including the Houthi Ansarullah and Saleh's General People's Congress are expected to hold talks with U.N. Yemen envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed later Tuesday, officials said.
    The U.N. plane carrying the Yemeni delegation left the Yemeni capital Sanaa on Sunday but was delayed in Djibouti repeatedly after allegedly being denied flight rights by Egypt.
    After a 40-hour trip, the head of the Houthi delegation, whose party controls huge swathes of territory in Yemen, including the capital, said that despite the delays, he is ready to talk.
    "Today we are focusing on the issue of the consultations that will take place, God willing, starting from today and we believe that these consultations, these comprehensive consultations will lead to an understanding about the foundations for the start of the political dialogue," Hamza al Houthi told Reuters soon after his arrival in Geneva.
    U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon launched the peace talks on Monday with a call for a humanitarian truce despite continued airstrikes by the Saudi-led Sunni Arab coalition that are pounding Yemeni towns and cities.
    "We arrived from Sanaa after an uphill and difficult trip that lasted more than 40 hours, and we know who is responsible for our delay to prevent our meeting with Ban Ki-moon yesterday and to distract us with secondary issues," General People's Congress head Aref Al Zouka told Reuters on Tuesday, hinting at Saudi involvement in the delays.
    "We came from our country with one core strategic issue: to stop this brutal aggression in our country and lift the comprehensive siege that today is killing children and old people and women," he said.
    More than 2,600 people have been killed since the air offensive began on March 26 aimed at ousting the Shiite Houthi rebels and restoring embattled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power.
    Ban said the truce, called to mark the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan later this week, should last for at least two weeks to allow life-saving supplies into the country.
    However, Yemeni Foreign Minister Reyad Yassin Abdulla dismissed the possibility of a ceasefire anytime soon saying such a truce would be possible only if the Houthis withdrew from towns and cities they currently control, an option the Houthis and their pro-Saleh allies say is unlikely.
    "Withdraw from our country? Who withdraws from their own country? Where shall we withdraw to? Shall we withdraw to Saudi Arabia?" Al Zouka said.
    The Geneva talks were expected to last two to three days, with Ould Cheikh Ahmed, shuttling between the delegations.
    Analysts said there was little sign that either the Houthis and their ally, former Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh, or Hadi, now based in Riyadh, were ready to compromise.
    "Saudi Arabia wants to insult the Yemeni people, Saudi Arabia wants to humiliate us, and we want to tell the world that they will not humiliate us, and we will not surrender. We are on our land and we shall remain steadfast on our land, no matter what they try," Al Zouka said ahead of the talks.
    Saudi Arabia, echoing the Hadi government, said the Geneva talks should focus on implementing a U.N. Security Council resolution demanding that the Houthis leave cities they have seized since last year.
    Ban also called for the withdrawal of armed forces from the cities, saying the fighting was bolstering Islamist militants.
    While Western countries have largely backed the air campaign as a way of pushing the Houthis to the negotiating table, they have more recently started to press Saudi Arabia to agree to a humanitarian pause to allow aid in and to negotiate.
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