Representatives of Yemeni factions meet with UN envoy in Geneva

The representatives of several Yemeni factions, including the Ansarullah movement, are meeting Ahmed as part of UN-brokered peace talks on Yemen.
 
Hamzah al-Houthi, a representative of the Ansarullah movement present in Geneva, said during a press conference at the site of the peace talks that negotiations are not going to be limited to conversations between only one or two groups and that they will be held among all political factions from inside and outside the country.
 
He further said that Yemen’s internal issues will be discussed at this phase of the peace talks and that the Saudi aggression against the Arab country is not on the agenda of the negotiations. The Yemeni politician stressed that as the United Nations is responsible for organizing the talks, the world body itself should try to stop the aggression against Yemen and have the Saudi blockade of the country lifted.
 
The Yemeni politician said Ansarullah welcomes a cessation of the fighting in Yemen, adding that the Yemeni political factions have participated in the talks without any preconditions.
 
Meanwhile, Yemen’s former fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi has said his faction will not sit for talks with those Yemeni groups backed by Houthi movement unless the Yemeni forces withdraw from the areas they have under their control.
 
Earlier in the day, Muhammad Muhammad Abdullah al-Zubairi, the general assistant to the Arabic Baath Social Party, who is in Geneva to participate in UN-brokered peace talks for Yemen, strongly rejected any talks with representatives of Hadi, who is a staunch ally of Riyadh. Zubairi, however, said Houthis and their allies are prepared to engage in direct negotiations with Saudi Arabia in case the United Nations invites Saudi authorities to the talks.
 
The talks in Geneva, under the auspices of the United Nations, aim to secure a ceasefire and accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid to war-stricken Yemeni people.
 
Saudi Arabia started its aggression against Yemen almost three months ago – without a UN mandate.