UN to hold Yemen peace talks in Geneva

United Nations 

A United Nations conference to re-launch political talks in Yemen which will open in Geneva next week, a UN spokesman said yesterday, despite uncertainty over who will attend the gathering.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said the May 28 meeting was to "restore momentum towards a Yemeni-led political transition process" after weeks of conflict that have left 1,850 dead.

UN-brokered peace talks were suspended when Shiite Huthi rebels went on the offensive, capturing the capital Sanaa in September and advancing on Aden in the south, forcing the president to flee to Saudi Arabia.

Ban hopes the Geneva talks "will help Yemen re-launch the political process, reduce the levels of violence and alleviate the intolerable humanitarian situation," said a statement from his spokesman.

The three-day conference was supposed to be announced last week, but the United Nations demanded a halt in fighting for the talks to go ahead.

Instead, the announcement came as Saudi-led air strikes on Yemen intensified after a five-day humanitarian truce expired at the weekend.

It remained unclear if the Huthi rebels planned to attend while Yemen's foreign minister Riyadh Yassin told AFP he would not go to Geneva unless the Huthis withdrew from at least part of the territory seized.

 "We are not going unless there is something on the ground," Yassin said in Riyadh. He demanded that a UN Security Council resolution adopted last month that called for the pullback be implemented.

 "We will not attend if there is no implementation, at least part of it. If there is no withdrawal from Aden at least, or Taez," Yassin said.