Yemen FM: Some Houthis excluded from Sweden peace talks

The Yemeni Foreign Minister and head of the government delegation Khalid Al-Yamani said it has been agreed that extra participants in the Houthi delegation would be removed from peace talks which began in Sweden yesterday.

Al-Yamani stressed in remarks to Sky News Arabia the need for Houthi militias to withdraw from Yemen’s west coast and hand over the strategic port town of Hudaydah to the legitimate government.

Member of the government’s delegation, Osman Majali, said earlier in the day that the Houthis did not adhere to the mechanism put forward by the UN envoy regarding the number of participants in their delegation which may hinder the negotiations.

READ: US calls for dialogue and de-escalation of situation in Yemen’s Socotra

The Yemeni government delegation arrived in Sweden on Wednesday, a day after the Houthi delegation arrived accompanied by UN Special Envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, to participate in the UN-sponsored talks to resolve the Yemeni crisis.

Impoverished Yemen has remained in a state of civil war since 2014, when Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including the capital Sana’a.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at reversing Houthi military gains and shoring up Yemen’s embattled government.

READ: Yemen calls for UNSC-backed ground operation

According to UN officials, more than 10,000 people have been killed in the war, while more than 11 per cent of the country’s population has been displaced.

Yemeni children affected by the Saudi-coalition war – Cartoon [Sabaaneh/MiddleEastMonitor]