SANAA, Yemen, Sept. 13 (UPI) — Yemen’s exiled government on Sunday said it would not participate in scheduled United Nations-mediated peace talks with the Houthis unless the rebels withdrew from captured territories.
Voice of America quoted President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi as saying in a statement he would “not to take part in any meeting until the militia recognizes Resolution 2216 and agrees to implement it without conditions.”
The resolution — voted for in April by each member of the U.N. Security Council with the exception of Russia, which abstained — called for the Houthis to, among other things, “withdraw from all areas seized during the latest conflict” and “relinquish arms seized from military and security institutions.”
Hadi’s statement comes as U.N.-brokered peace negotiations were scheduled to commence this week.
According to the U.N., the purpose of the talks was “to create a framework for an agreement on implementation mechanisms” of Resolution 2216.
Yemen’s civil war has raged since last year, when the Shia Muslim Houthis began advancing from the north of the country and capturing territory, including the capital, Sanaa. Earlier this year, Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia, which began leading a coalition bombing campaign against the Houthis. The U.N. estimates at least 4,500 people have been killed in Yemen since then.
The Yemeni government’s announcement coincides with a military offensive by the coalition against Houthis in the central province of Marib.
Xinhua news agency quoted a military source as saying the offensive, which is backed by coalition air power and aimed at an important oil-producing province, is meant to “pave the way for entering the capital Sanaa, which is our main military target.”
A government official told Xinhua “the president canceled all of his scheduled visits to his office on Sunday and headed to a coalition military operation room to follow up the sweeping attack against the rebels in Marib.”
The operation comprises efforts by Yemeni soldiers trained in Saudi Arabia, as well as troops from the coalition itself, which includes the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and other Sunni powers in the Gulf and the wider region.
Emirati, Qatari and Saudi troops have been reportedly fighting on the ground in Yemen, with armored vehicles and soldiers from the UAE arriving in August and 1,000 troops from Qatar, backed by armor and helicopter gunships, deploying to Yemen earlier this month.
A Houthi rocket attack on an arms depot in Yemen killed at least 46 Emirati troops, 10 Saudi soldiers and four Bahrainis in early September — the deadliest incident for the coalition since it formed in March.
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