Yemen talks in Geneva end without agreement

The Foreign Minister of the Yemeni government in exile, Riyad Yassin, has announced that the peace talks held in Geneva ended on Friday without agreement, media reports have reported. He did not mention any plans for further talks.

“Unfortunately, the Houthi delegation did not give a chance for making any development, as we expected,” he said. However, he refused to speak about “failure.”

“If we did not succeed, it does not mean that we have failed,” said Yassin, noting that efforts with the UN and the international community are to continue until “we reach a peaceful solution for the bloody conflict in Yemen.”

He added that while no further talks are planned, the internationally-backed government “is still optimistic regarding a peaceful, UN-sponsored solution.”

Since last Sunday, UN diplomat Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been trying to persuade the Houthis and the government in exile to announce a humanitarian truce during Ramadan as a preliminary measure to peace talks. “I will not beat around the bush,” he said. “There was no kind of agreement reached.”