Yemen’s President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi (C) and Prime Minister and Vice President Khaled Bahah (R) attend a meeting with UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed in the Saudi capital Riyadh, on October 17, 2015. (SABA)
Aden and Dubai, Reuters/Asharq Al-Awsat—Yemen’s internationally recognized government has agreed to attend UN-brokered talks with the Houthis and their allies, a government spokesperson said on Sunday, in a fresh bid to end the crisis that has engulfed Yemen for over a year.
“The decision has been taken to attend [the talks] and a letter will be sent to the UN secretary-general [regarding this],” Rajeh Badi, a government spokesman, told Reuters.
On Saturday, Yassin Mikawi, adviser to President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, told Asharq Al-Awsat the government would only attend the talks if it received “guarantees” from the UN regarding the Houthis abiding by a UN Security Council resolution on Yemen.
Resolution 2216, adopted in April, stipulates that the Iran-backed Houthis withdraw from all areas under their control in Yemen and cease targeting civilian areas.
A previous round of UN-sponsored talks in Geneva between the Yemeni government and the Houthis in June failed to achieve a breakthrough due to the Houthis refusing to recognize the resolution.
UN Special Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been in Saudi Arabia for discussions with President Hadi and other senior Yemeni officials over the talks.
Yemen’s crisis began in September 2014 when the Houthis, backed by Iran and forces allied to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, overran the capital Sana’a.
The rebels then spread to other areas of the country and in February launched a coup against Hadi and the government, holding the president and several cabinet members under house arrest.
Hadi eventually fled to Saudi Arabia where he sought help from Riyadh and its Arab allies, requesting they intervene in Yemen with military force in order to restore him and the government to power.
The Saudi-led air campaign targeting the Houthis began on March 26.
Since then the tide of the conflict has turned in the government’s favor, with pro-government forces backed by the airstrikes and forces belonging to a coalition of Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia, making inroads against the Houthis and their allies, especially in the country’s southern region.
Several members of the cabinet have now returned to the country to the southern port city of Aden, recently liberated from Houthi control. President Hadi returned to Aden—the first time he has been back in the country since March—last month.