With 24 hours left before the scheduled close of U.N.-brokered talks on Yemen, mediators pushed Wednesday for a truce between warring parties as a crucial step to allowing aid deliveries.
Mediators are seeking a deescalation of violence in two flashpoint cities: rebel-held Hodeida, a port city vital to the supply of humanitarian aid, and Taiz, Yemen's third-largest city, scene of some of the war's most intense fighting.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was due in Rimbo late Wednesday for the next day’s closing round of consultations.
Both government and rebel representatives traded accusations of unwillingness to negotiate, particularly on rebel-held Hodeida, the main route for 90 percent of food imports and nearly 80 percent of aid deliveries.
Multiple draft proposals have been submitted to the two delegations over the past week. None have found consensus as of yet.
"I think there is some progress, even if it's with much difficulty. It's slow progress," rebel representative Abdelmalik al-Ajri told AFP. "We are faced with the intransigence of the other side.
"Things should become clearer today."
Askar Zaeel, a member of the government delegation, said his camp would hold firm to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 – which calls for the Houthis to withdraw from all areas seized in a 2014 takeover, including Hodeida.
The Yemen conflict has killed nearly 10,000 people since the Arab-led coalition joined the war in 2015, according to the World Health Organization, triggering what the U.N. calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.
Both parties stand accused of failing to protect civilians. The Arab-led alliance has been blacklisted by the U.N. for the killing and maiming of children.
Guterres' arrival comes hours after his office said it had evidence the Houthis were using Iran-made missiles.
The Gulf monarchies and the United States accuse Iran of supporting Houthi rebels – and see this as justification for the military campaign they have waged in Yemen since 2015.
Iran supports the rebels politically but denies supplying them with arms.
AFP
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