United Arab Emirates Backs Idea Of Inter-Yemeni Talks In Sweden - Foreign Minister

United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that the country's authorities supported the initiative to hold talks on Yemeni conflict settlement in Sweden.

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 15th November, 2018) United Arab Emirates (UAE) Foreign Minister Anwar Gargash said that the country's authorities supported the initiative to hold talks on Yemeni conflict settlement in Sweden.

The UN-mediated talks were expected to be held in early September in Geneva, but the representatives of the Houthi movement eventually refused to partake. UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths is currently working on negotiating a new round of peace talks with the warring parties. According to media reports, he was planning to hold them in Vienna. However, a member of the Yemen's Houthi movement's politburo Abdel Malek al Ojari told Sputnik in late October that there were three possible venues for the talks - Austria, Switzerland and Sweden.

"We welcome early convening of UN-led talks in Sweden. At UNSC meeting on Friday, Coalition will urge all parties to take advantage of window of opportunity to restart political process. We look forward to hosting Martin Griffiths this week in Abu Dhabi," Gargash wrote on Twitter.

Yemen has been gripped by a civil war between President Hadi's government and the Shiite Houthi movement since 2014. The government is backed by the Saudi-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes that target the areas controlled by the Houthis since March 2015. The conflict has escalated this year in the region of Al Hudaydah, Yemen's largest Red Sea port, disrupting humanitarian supplies to the country and putting half of its population at risk of starvation.