Yemen's Houthi group says UN-sponsored talks not postponed

The United Nations (UN) has not declared postponement of peace talks due to be held in Geneva this week, said a senior official of Yemen's Shiite Houthi group on Monday as it was fighting a Saudi-led Arab coalition in the north and supporters of the exiled president in the south.

The UN plans to hold a conference in Geneva on May 28 that will involve Yemen's exiled government, political factions including the Houthi group and the Arab coalition to restore momentum toward a political transition process. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged all Yemeni parties to engage in the talks without precondition.

The legitimate Yemeni government, headed by President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is in Saudi Arabia, expressed reluctance to attend the talks, saying the Houthis should first withdraw from the cities they occupied since last September and hand over weapons they took from the army.

"Mohammed Abdulsalam and Saleh al-Sumad, who are our representatives for the UN-sponsored peace talks due to be held in Geneva on May 28, are in Oman now and they have not yet been notified about postponement of the talks in which Oman plays a key role," a Houthi official at the group's political bureau told Xinhua.

"They (their representatives) also have not yet notified the political bureau about such UN decision," the official said, asking not to be named.

Chief of the Houthi political bureau Hussein al-Ezzy said his group supports the Geneva talks and that its representatives are already in Oman to prepare to attend the peace conference.

He rejected Hadi's demands that the Houthi fighters withdraw from cities.

"We will attend Geneva talks only if they are based on the agreed outcomes of the Yemeni national dialogue and the UN-brokered peace and partnership agreement," he was quoted by Houthi media as saying.

Meanwhile, the Saudi-led air campaign continued on Monday, hitting Houthi targets and military units loyal to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was accused of supporting the Houthis in capital Sanaa and several other cities in the country.

And in southern regions, the Houthis and tribal fighters shelled each other with mortars and tanks.

Residents in the southern province of al-Dhalee said tribal fighters on Monday managed to recapture most parts of the province.

Local officials said the tribal fighters seized about 40 tanks from the Houthi group and Saleh's forces after recapturing the 33rd military brigade.

In the southern province of Taiz, the Houthis and tribal fighters blamed each other for firing at an oil tanker in the provincial capital city of Taiz, which led to an explosion that killed at least 30 people and wounded over 60 others.

In the southern port city of Aden, the country's second largest city, residents said the Houthis shelled tribal fighters in al-Buraika neighborhood on Monday morning but did not give the number of casualties.

In the western port city of al-Hodayda, local officials said that battles between the Houthis and local fighters killed at least seven people.

A senior Houthi official told Xinhua on Monday that they shot down a Saudi helicopter in Saada province on border with Saudi Arabia after they traded artillery fire with Saudi forces at the main border crossing between the two countries.

On Sunday, Houthi officials confirmed they shot down a Saudi fighter jet in Bani Harith district in north Sanaa. They showed pictures and footage of remaining parts of the crashed warplane, which carries the name of "Royal Saudi Air Force."

Saudi Arabia, along with eight other Arab states, have been bombing the Houthi group and forces loyal to Saleh since March 26, aiming to reinstate the government of President Hadi, who was forced to flee the country.

The airstrikes, as well as ground battles between the Houthis and Hadi's supporters, have so far killed more than 1,400 people, while more than 4,000 others were wounded across the crisis-ridden country, according to data released by the Yemeni government. Endit