Yemen warring parties begin direct peace talks in bid to end conflict: UN

Yemen warring parties begin direct peace talks in bid to end conflict: UN

PanARMENIAN.Net - Yemen's warring parties began face-to-face peace talks on Saturday, April 30 on "key issues" in a bid to end the conflict in the impoverished Arab country, the United Nations said, according to AFP.

"All delegations are present. Key issues will be addressed," Charbel Raji, spokesman for Yemen's UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, told AFP about the negotiations taking place in Kuwait.

Most of the meetings in talks which began April 21 have so far been confined to encounters between rival delegations and Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

More than 6,800 people have been killed and around 2.8 million displaced in Yemen since a Saudi-led coalition began operations in March 2015 against Iran-backed Huthi rebels, who seized swathes of territory including the capital Sanaa.

Key issues to navigate include the withdrawal of armed groups, a handover of heavy weapons, the resumption of a political transition and the release of prisoners, AFP says.

The new phase of meetings comes after the government and rebel delegations each submitted a framework for a political and security solution to end the 13-month war.

The government delegation said their proposal is based on implementing UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which states that the rebels must withdraw from seized territories and disarm before talks can progress.

Meanwhile, the insurgent-controlled sabanews.net website quoted an unnamed source from the rebel delegation as saying that their proposals include "forming a consensus authority that would oversee (political) transition."

The rebel proposals also include lifting of the blockade imposed by the Saudi-led military coalition on Yemen, AFP says.

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