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Date: Jun 6, 2015
Source: The Daily Star
Yemen rebels, govt agree to peace talks
Agence France Presse
SANAA: Houthi rebels and Yemen’s exiled government agreed Friday to attend U.N.-brokered peace talks in Geneva aimed at ending weeks of war that have cost more than 2,000 lives.

The Geneva meeting, provisionally set for June 14, would be the first significant effort to stop the fighting, which has led to what the United Nations called a catastrophic humanitarian situation.

“We accepted the invitation of the United Nations to go to the negotiating table in Geneva without preconditions,” said Daifallah al-Shami, a senior member of the rebels’ political wing.

Speaking to AFP, he added that the rebels “will not accept conditions” from other parties.

Ezzedine al-Isbahi, information minister of the government exiled in the Saudi capital, said it would also send a delegation to Switzerland.

U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the Security Council Wednesday that the government would attend but that he was still in consultation with the rebels. “The government agreed to participate in the Geneva talks.” He said the meeting would involve “consultations on implementing Resolution 2216” which the Security Council passed in April. It imposed an arms embargo on the Houthi rebels and demanded they relinquish seized territory.

The negotiations would try to secure a cease-fire, agreement on a Houthi withdrawal plan and increased deliveries of humanitarian aid, according to diplomats who attended the closed-door Security Council briefing.

The Security Council this week heard a report from new U.N. aid chief Stephen O’Brien who described Yemen’s humanitarian crisis as “catastrophic,” with 20 million civilians – 80 percent of the population – in need of aid.

Confirmation that the government and rebels would both send delegations to Switzerland follows a flurry of diplomacy after the U.N. was forced to abandon plans to convene talks last week.

While momentum builds toward the peace talks, killing continues on the ground.

Medical and military sources said at least 21 people have died in violent combat since Thursday in the Aden area, while there were intense coalition air raids against the Daleh and Shabwa provinces.


 
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