Geneva : A United Nations envoy will hold talks in Kuwait and Saudi Arabia in the coming days on a draft peace proposal for Yemen with the aim of reaching a "preliminary agreement" with Houthi fighters, a UN spokesman said today.
More than 2,800 people have been killed in Yemen during three months of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition, including Kuwait, that aims to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is currently living in exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Iranian-backed Houthi fighters control large areas of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
UN-sponsored talks in Geneva on a ceasefire between Yemen's warring parties broke up a week ago without a deal as the coalition staged further airstrikes.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who led the Geneva talks, will travel to Kuwait on Saturday and then spend a week in Riyadh before moving on to Sanaa for a further week of consultations, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters.
"He intends to spend more time in the two capitals (Riyadh and Sanaa) to discuss the draft principles paper which was developed here in Geneva - as he said, 'until we reach a preliminary agreement'," said UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi.
"As you know, before leaving us here in Geneva, he said both sides had shown signs of constructive engagement regarding the possibility of reaching a humanitarian truce and that there was emerging common ground upon which to build an eventual ceasefire coupled with the withdrawal of combattants," Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.
The United Nations has estimated that more than 21 million people, or 80 per cent of the Yemeni population, are now in need of humanitarian assistance.
The UN Security Council and UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien pressed on Thursday for more aid and commercial access to Yemen, where a near-total blockade by Saudi Arabia has slowed shipments to the Arabian Peninsula country to a trickle.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said today it would provide essential medicines for treating non-communicable diseases such as heart and chronic respiratory illnesses for more than one million people in Yemen for six months.
More than 2,800 people have been killed in Yemen during three months of air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition, including Kuwait, that aims to restore President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is currently living in exile in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Iranian-backed Houthi fighters control large areas of Yemen, including the capital Sanaa.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who led the Geneva talks, will travel to Kuwait on Saturday and then spend a week in Riyadh before moving on to Sanaa for a further week of consultations, UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told reporters.
Advertisement
"As you know, before leaving us here in Geneva, he said both sides had shown signs of constructive engagement regarding the possibility of reaching a humanitarian truce and that there was emerging common ground upon which to build an eventual ceasefire coupled with the withdrawal of combattants," Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.
Advertisement
The UN Security Council and UN aid chief Stephen O'Brien pressed on Thursday for more aid and commercial access to Yemen, where a near-total blockade by Saudi Arabia has slowed shipments to the Arabian Peninsula country to a trickle.
Advertisement
© Thomson Reuters 2015
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Watch: Drone Whizzes Across Skyline In Israel, Hits Building Near US Embassy "Bathroom Slippers": Internet Reacts To Kuwait Store's Rs 1 Lakh "Sandals" Father, Daughter Die At National Park In US After Running Out Of Water In Extreme Heat Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 105 Bangladeshis Die In Protests Bangladesh Imposes Curfew, Deploys Military As 105 Die In Protests "Jindal Group Executive Showed Porn, Groped Me On Flight": Woman To NDTV Global IT Chaos Persists, Flight Delays Expected Even Today: 10 Point Massive Global IT Crash Hits Airlines, Banks, Media: Live Updates "Stakes Are High, Choice Is Clear": Biden Vows To Stay In Presidential Race Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.