KUWAIT CITY: The UN special envoy to Yemen on Monday urged the country’s warring parties to make concessions to save peace talks aimed at ending a devastating 13-month war.
The appeal by Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed came after face-to-face talks broke off with the government delegation complaining of a lack of progress and the Huthi rebels protesting about air raids by the Saudi-led Arab coalition.
After holding several separate meetings with each delegation, Ould Cheikh Ahmed called on the two sides to “make concessions in order to strike a comprehensive peaceful solution” to end Yemen’s deadly conflict.
“The participants in the Kuwait negotiations must reflect the aspirations of the Yemeni people. I am confident that Yemenis want an end to the conflict,” he said in a statement.
All direct meetings scheduled for Sunday were called off, but the UN envoy said new talks are scheduled for Monday and appealed for cooperation.
The two delegations also met with Kuwait’s Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Sabah and ambassadors of the 18 mostly Western countries backing the talks in a bid to bring the Yemeni foes back to the negotiating table.
Yemen’s foreign minister said the talks which began on April 21 made no headway.
