Yemen: Dispute persists as peace talks enter 4th day

UN-brokered Yemeni peace talks in Kuwait entered a fourth day Sunday with government and Shia Huthi rebel delegations still far from reaching an agreement to end 13 months of war.

The delegations resumed “talks and started the plenary session”, Charbel Raji, spokesman for the UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told AFP without providing further details.

Sources close to the talks said on Saturday that the two sides had failed to reach an understanding on the need to firm up a fragile ceasefire in place since April 11. Ould Cheikh Ahmed acknowledged the negotiations were difficult, but expressed hopes for progress.

“The atmosphere of the talks is promising and there is common ground to build on in order to reconcile differences,” the UN envoy said in a statement issued late Saturday.

The delegates had agreed to appoint two officials, one from each side, to make recommendations on how to sustain the ceasefire, he added.

But the two sides differ on priorities for the ceasefire.

The government delegation said overnight that the ceasefire should include opening safe passages to all besieged areas and releasing political prisoners as well as those abducted as part of confidence-building measures.

The Iran-backed Huthis are demanding an immediate halt to air strikes that a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out since March 2015 in support of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi.

“The continuity of air strikes by targeting roads, bridges and homes like what happened yesterday... Affirms that the announcement of cessation of military actions is baseless,” said Mohamed Abdulsalam, the Huthi spokesman and head of delegation.

Meanwhile, a bomb-laden vehicle exploded Sunday killing seven soldiers in Yemen’s south, where government forces backed by air power from an Arab coalition have launched an offensive against Al-Qaeda, military sources said.

The attack, which also wounded another 14 soldiers, targeted an Army convoy as it entered jihadist stronghold Zinjibar, capital of Abyan province, said the sources, blaming Al-Qaeda for the bombing.

Forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched the Zinjibar offensive on Saturday, after similar assaults pushed the jihadists from other areas in the south.

The Saudi-led coalition that has been battling Iran-backed rebels across the country since March 2015 has deployed Apache helicopters to support the loyalist fighting on ground.

The pro-Hadi forces “retreated from Zinjibar after they entered on Saturday night” from the city’s southern gate, an officer in Abyan told AFP.