Yemen Hopes for New Talks With Houthis After Failed Negotiations – Ambassador

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Yemeni authorities are hoping for new talks with rebel Houthi movement, after its representatives failed to attend the UN-backed consultations in Geneva, Ambassador in Russia told Sputnik.

"Let’s hope there will be new talks, and it will materialize some outcome. Let’s be optimists," Ambassador in Russia Ahmed Salem Wahishi said.

The ambassador stressed that the rebel movement representatives were the ones that did not show up for the negotiations in September that were promoted by UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths.

READ MORE: Yemeni Ambassador Calls on Russia, US to Urge Houthis to Join Peace Talks

"They [Houthis] should recognize the international legitimacy, the resolutions of the Security Council. And they should come to negotiations because for the last talks, the [UN] special envoy Martin Griffiths came to our government, we agreed to come to the talks in Geneva. They decided dates for it… they agreed to come and at the last minute, they did not show up," the ambassador said.

Wahishi pointed out that the government was setting "modest targets" for the talks, "not the comprehensive solution, just confidence-building measures, like the release of the detainees, some other confidence-building measures."

The UN-mediated talks were expected to be held in early September in Geneva, but the representatives of the Houthi movement eventually refused to come, claiming that the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the Yemeni airspace, did not allow them to leave and return peacefully. According to the coalition, Houthis were given the green light to leave on time, but did not use the opportunity.

Yemen has been gripped by the civil war with the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fighting the Houthi movement. The government is backed by the Saudi-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes targeted at the areas controlled by the Houthis since March 2015.