Yemeni peace talks underway in Kuwait

They were supposed to start four days ago. Postponed by violations in truce. Talks sponsored by the UN. In over a year of conflict there have been 6400 deaths and nearly 3 million displaced. The presence of Al Qaeda and Daesh "allies" of the Saudi coalition. The Sisters of Mother Teresa and the kidnapping of Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil.

 


Kuwait City (AsiaNews) - A delegation of Houthi rebels left the Yemeni capital yesterday travelling to Kuwait to participate in peace talks sponsored by the UN. The dialogue was supposed to start four days ago but was postponed because the rebels have accused the enemy coalition, led by Saudi Arabia, of violating the cease-fire in place since 11 April.

In reality, both groups have violated the truce in recent days. In the last 24 hours 16 rebels and three government soldiers have been killed in clashes in Nahm, in the northeast region of Sanaa. Other clashes took place in Marib (east of the capital).

For over a year the Saudi led coalition has been trying to quash the the Houthi rebels, who have managed to win over different parts of the territory and take control of the capital Sanaa. President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, who fled first to Aden, has now taken permanent refuge in Riyadh.

The Houthis are fighting for greater autonomy, and for more political rights and are allies of former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The conflict is seen by analysts as yet another "proxy war" between Saudi Arabia, which supports Hadi, and Iran, which supports the Houthis.

Many of the high-precision weapons used by the Saudis come from the US arsenals, which also offer intelligence services to Riyadh.

The United Nations says that in more than a year of conflict, at least 6400 people have died and almost 3 million have been forced to flee their homes.

The war has been made more violent by the presence of radical Islamist groups such as Al Qaeda and Daesh (the Islamic state), who are fighting against the Houthis and target the population. Victims of their fundamentalism also include four sisters of Mother Teresa killed in Aden on March 4 and Fr. Tom Uzhunnalil, the Salesian priest kidnapped more than a month ago, whose fate remains unknown.