Yemen's Houthi leader says to send delegation to Sweden peace talks next week
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E-mail Xinhua, November 30, 2018
SANAA, Nov. 29 (Xinhua) -- The leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels confirmed Thursday that a Houthi delegation will attend the peace talks in Sweden next week, which are sponsored by the United Nations to end the four-year civil war.
"The delegation will be there in Sweden on the 3rd of December, if the guarantee of safe exit and return continues," Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, head of Houthi Higher Revolutionary Committee, said in a statement.
He was referring to the guarantee provided by the UN for the Houthi delegation's safe travel and return to Sanaa.
"We wish to hasten the evacuation of wounded people for treatment as a first step and as beginning for lifting the blockade and embargo on the oppressed people of Yemen," al-Houthi said.
Last week, the Houthi-run al-Masirah TV reported that "the UN has guaranteed to transport the injured Houthi fighters to a foreign country for treatment as a step of rebuilding confidence to support the peace talks."
Meanwhile, the Saudi-run Al Arabiya TV reported that the Yemeni government delegation would arrive in Sweden after the Houthis.
UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths left Sanaa on Saturday after a visit, during which the rebels pledged to attend the upcoming peace talks in Sweden.
The last UN attempt to hold a round of peace talks in Geneva in September failed after the Houthis refused to to attend. The Houthis said their delegation did not receive any guarantee for their safe return to Sanaa.
Sanaa Airport has been forced to close as part of an all-out blockade imposed by the Saudi-led coalition which has controlled the airspace over the rebel-held cities since 2015.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.
The Yemeni war has killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, displaced 3 million others and pushed the country to the brink of famine. Enditem
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