Yemeni President-in-Exile to Skip UN-Backed Peace Talks

Displaced Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi will not attend the UN-backed peace talks on Yemen in Geneva.

CAIRO (Sputnik) — Displaced Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi will not attend the UN-backed peace talks on Yemen, scheduled to start next Thursday in Geneva, the Asharq Al-Awsat Arabic international newspaper reported Saturday.

Yemen has been in a state of turmoil since early 2015 after the Houthi rebels seized large parts of the country, including capital Sanaa.

President Hadi, who fled Yemen as a Saudi-led coalition began conducting airstrikes on the Houthi positions in late March, apologized in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for not sending his envoys to the conference, the daily reported citing unspecified diplomatic sources in New York.

The president was quoted as saying that the Houthis and forces loyal to former Yemeni leader Ali Abdullah Saleh continue aggressive actions in Yemen while also trying to destabilize neighboring countries.

Earlier this week, Yemeni Foreign Minister Riyadh Yaseen said that the country's exiled government was unlike to attend the talks in Geneva because it needed more time to prepare.

The reaction came after Ban Ki-moon announced that the United Nations would sponsor "inclusive" talks aimed at resolving the Yemeni crisis.

According to UN estimates, at least 1,850 people have been killed and some 7,400 injured in airstrikes and fighting on the ground since mid-March in Yemen.