The UN-backed peace talks between the Yemeni warring parties, which began on Thursday in Kuwait, were re-started on Tuesday after the negotiations were stalled for 24 hours.
The aim of the talks is to bring peace between the Houthis and other groups affiliated with the former president Ali Abdallah Saleh on one side and the current president Hadi Mansour supported by Saudi Arabia on the other side.
The delegations met the Kuwaiti Emir Sobah Al-Jaber after which both sides agreed to resume the talks, though there is no official confirmation that Al-Jaber acted as mediator.
The UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh described Tuesday’s session as positive. “The parties are committed to discussions towards a comprehensive political solution and to proceed with an agreed-upon agenda,” Ould Cheikh said Tuesday on his Twitter account.
The two sides agreed on a framework for the talks last week, but they disagreed on whether to start negotiations for a new government or for the withdrawal of the Houthis from the city they seized.
The Yemeni foreign minister and the head of the government delegation told journalists that the framework includes the withdrawal of the Houthi forces from the cities and allowing the government to control them. He added that their agreement on this may lead to positive results.
The Saudi collation is still performing airstrikes in Yemen. The Houthis have refuted this move but the government says that it is necessary to prevent the Houthis from moving their weaponry.
The crisis in Yemen escalated when the Houthis seized some cities including the capital San’aa in 2014.
Saudi Arabia and an Arab coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 to restore “the legitimacy” of President Hadi Mansour.
Al-Qaeda in the Arab Peninsula and “Islamic State” (IS) have taken advantage of Yemen’s political unrest to expand in some locations across the country.
