KUWAIT CITY – The UN special envoy to Yemen said Tuesday that warring parties have agreed to a framework for talks that will open the way for extensive negotiations to end the conflict.
The announcement came after Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad Al-Sabah, whose country is hosting the talks, met with the two delegations separately and urged them to reach a peaceful solution.
It also came a day after the UN Security Council urged all sides in the negotiations to be constructive.
The two delegations “agreed to an agenda for negotiations which is a framework for discussing security, economic and political issues,” UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told a press conference.
He said “comprehensive negotiations” would start on Wednesday in line with UN Security Council resolution 2216, which is seen as a basis for any peace plan.
It states that the rebels must withdraw from seized territories and disarm before talks can progress.
But Ould Cheikh Ahmed said the UN wants all the main issues to be discussed in parallel by joint committees.
He said no timeframe has been set for the talks which should continue as necessary to achieve a “comprehensive peaceful settlement.”
“We don’t want to go back to Yemen without a peaceful settlement,” Ould Cheikh Ahmed said.
More than 6,800 people have been killed and around 2.8 million displaced since a Saudi-led Arab coalition began operations in March 2015 against the Iran-backed Huthi rebels who have seized swathes of territory, including the capital Sanaa.
Since the delayed peace talks started on Thursday, the two delegations have struggled to reach an accord on ways to firm up a ceasefire that went into effect on April 11.
The negotiations represent the best hope in months for a settlement to the conflict.
The 15-member UN Security Council on Monday stressed the importance of agreeing on a “roadmap” to implement security measures including the withdrawal of heavy weapons.
The rebels have insisted that no ceasefire can be established without an end to coalition air strikes and sorties.
The government side wants the rebels to lift the siege on cities, open humanitarian passages and release prisoners.
Asharq Al-Awsat reported a recent report showed that one and a half million Yemeni workers have lost their jobs as a result of the war led by the Houthis and the deposed president Ali Abdullah Saleh. The centre of studies and media said in a report that it published on Sunday entitled “Indicators of the Economy” that 800 construction companies have stopped trading.
The report, which Asharq Al-Awsat obtained a copy of, said that Yemen began 2016 with a record of economic and humanitarian suffering after a year of war and explained that most Yemeni families are in need of humanitarian aid. It also explained that 21 million out of 26 million Yemenis are in need of aid. The system to deliver food and other types of aid has improved during the last three months in comparison to last year, however, some cities where armed conflict is taking place like Taiz in southern Yemen still face difficulty in delivering essential food and are beyond the reach of international relief and humanitarian organizations.

Source: AFP, Asharq Al-Awsat, 26 APRIL 2016