Yemen govt, Houthi rebels begin new talks on Taiz
The picture taken on March 12, 2021 shows soldiers of the Yemeni government marching forward as they are launching an offensive against the Houthi rebels in Abs district, Hajjah Province, north Yemen. Yemen’s internationally-recognized government and the Houthi rebels on Sunday began their second round of talks over the opening of blocked roads in Taiz city, a government diplomat told Xinhua.
“Delegations representing the Yemeni government and the Houthi group began a new round of face-to-face negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in Jordan’s capital Amman,” the diplomat said in a statement on the condition of anonymity.
With the supervision of UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, the warring sides were actively involved in negotiations over lifting the years-long siege imposed by the Houthis on the strategic city of Taiz in southwestern Yemen, he added.
The first round of talks on Taiz concluded on May 29 in Amman without reaching any agreement. Yemen’s warring parties entered a two-month UN-brokered truce on April 2, which includes allowing commercial flights to and from the Houthi-held capital Sanaa and the entry of fuel ships into the Houthi-held port Hodeidah and lifting the siege of the government-held Taiz city.
The warring parties have largely held the truce, but have yet to reach a final agreement on lifting the siege of Taiz.
On Tuesday, the warring parties renewed the truce for another two months, allowing more time for them to sort out persisting disagreements.
Yemen fell into a civil war in late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern provinces and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of Sanaa.
