Off the wire
• Urgent: Security Council urges Yemeni stakeholders to participate in UN-brokered consultations  • Canada expands air links with Cuba  • Interview: Mexico's Chinese-friendly hospitality sector to get special seal of approval: official  • Israeli central bank warns of Arab, ultra-Orthodox unemployment's negative impact on economy  • UN commemorates 65th anniversary of Palestine refugee agency  • French Open director says one injured by falling panel during match  • News Analysis: Cuba cautious on free-market reforms as talks with U.S. move forward  • Collated results of French Open in day 10 competitions  • Interview: Encouraging achievements made on Sino-U.S. clean energy cooperation: Chinese minister  • U.S. military lab may have shipped live anthrax to Pentagon: report  
You are here: 　 Home

1st LD Writethru: Security Council urges Yemeni stakeholders to participate in UN-brokered consultations

Xinhua, June 3, 2015 Adjust font size:

The UN Security Council on Tuesday urged Yemeni stakeholders to participate in UN-brokered inclusive political consultations as soon as possible while expressing disappointment that the May 28 talks planned in Geneva did not take place.

In a press statement released here, the Security Council expressed their deep concern about the grave situation in Yemen, emphasizing the need for a peaceful, orderly, inclusive and Yemeni- led transition process.

"The members of the Security Council reaffirmed their call on Yemeni parties to attend these talks and engage without preconditions and in good faith, including by resolving their differences through dialogue and consultations, rejecting acts of violence to achieve political goals, and refraining from provocation and all unilateral actions to undermine the political transition," said the statement.

On May 26, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that the consultations in Geneva on Yemen have been postponed following a request from the Yemeni government and other key stakeholders for more time to prepare.

The UN sponsored talks had been set to restore momentum towards a Yemeni-led political transition process.

UN Special Envoy on Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed visited Sanaa from May 29 to 31 as part of his efforts to get the political process back on track, notably through the holding of Yemeni consultations in Geneva as soon as possible, said UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq on Monday.

Conflict in Yemen has escalated in recent weeks. On Saturday, Saudi-led coalition warplanes intensified air strikes against positions of Yemen's Shiite Houthi group in the capital Sanaa.

The Gulf countries tried to push for comprehensive peace talks between all Yemeni parties since the Houthis seized control of Sanaa in September 2014 that forced President Abdo Rabbo Mansour Hadi to move his administration to Yemen's southern port city of Aden.

Saudi Arabia, along with eight other Arab states, have been bombing Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh since March 26, with the aim of reinstating Hadi's government. Endite