Yemen’s warring sides to renew truce: UN
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The United Nations says Yemen’s warring parties have agreed to renew an existing truce for another two months after international concerted efforts.
The UN’s envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a statement that Yemen’s internationally recognised government and the country’s Houthi rebels agreed to extend the truce.
The statement said that both sides of the conflict had also agreed to try to arrive at “an expanded truce agreement as soon as possible”.
The renewal announcement came hours after an Omani delegation concluded three-day talks with the Houthi leadership, including with the rebels’ chief Abdel-Malek al-Houthi in the capital Sanaa.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the Houthi chief negotiator and spokesman, said on Twitter the talks focused on “consolidating chances of halting the war and lifting the blockade” imposed by the Saudi-led coalition.
The ceasefire initially took effect on April 2 and was extended on June 2 despite both sides trading accusations of violating the truce and the failure to lift a years-long blockade of the city of Taiz by the Houthis.
Yemen’s civil war erupted in 2014 when the Houthis descended from their northern enclave and took over the capital, forcing the government to flee to the south before its exile in Saudi Arabia.
A Saudi-led coalition – then backed by the United Sates – entered the war in early 2015 to try to restore the government to power.
AP
