A UN official made the announcement. Getting the parties to meet for peace talks is the main reason. The conflict has has left some 2,000 people dead and displaced more than half a million people.

Sanaa (AsiaNews/Agencies) – United Nations talks to end the conflict in Yemen have been postponed just four days before they were due to begin this Thursday, in Geneva, a UN official said without going into details.

Uncertainty over the talks had been growing. Their postponement is a further blow to UN efforts to broker peace in a country where nearly 2,000 people have been killed since March, and another half a million forced to flee their homes.

Underlining the difficulty of trying to get the rivals around the negotiating table, exiled Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi laid out his government's demands to attend the talks in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, insisting Shia Houthi rebels must withdraw from territory they have seized.

The embattled leader reiterated his position on Sunday during talks in Riyadh with the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed. On this occasion, he demanded full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

The April resolution calls on the Houthis to relinquish territory they seized and surrender weapons they took from the army and other state institutions.

• yemen
• civil
• war
• houthi
• united
• nations