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Preparations underway for intra-Yemeni peace talks slated for April 18

Xinhua, April 2, 2016 Adjust font size:

Preparations are currently underway for intra-Yemeni peace talks, which are expected to be held under the auspices of the UN in Kuwait starting April 18.

"UN Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed urged Yemeni delegations to seize the opportunity to provide a mechanism for a return to a peaceful and orderly transition," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric at a daily news briefing held here, quoting a source from the Office of the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen.

The UN envoy has encouraged the parties to engage constructively in the talks, including on the areas of the withdrawal of militias and armed groups, interim security arrangements, the restoration of state institutions and the resumption of inclusive political dialogue, according to the UN spokesman.

"I am looking forward to the active participation of relevant parties in the talks," the UN envoy said, urging the Middle East country's delegations to seize this opportunity to provide a mechanism for a return to a peaceful and orderly transition based on the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative and the outcomes of the national dialogue conference.

The parties to the conflict have agreed to a nation-wide cessation of hostilities beginning at midnight on April 10. "With political will, good faith and balance, they could take this opportunity to end the conflict and pave the way towards a permanent and durable end of the war," the special envoy added.

UN political experts have already been deployed to Sana'a, Yemen, and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to work with the delegations there toward the resumption of talks. Another team is on its way to Kuwait to finalize the preparations with the Yemeni Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that the humanitarian situation in Yemen is rapidly deteriorating due to the yearlong conflict that has worsened the living conditions of Yemen's poor population, adding more than 3 million people to the ranks of the hungry in less than a year.

In March, WFP reached more than 3 million people in 17 governorates with emergency food assistance. Nine of those governorates are in the grip of severe food insecurity at "emergency" level -- one step below famine based on the five-point Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) scale, the UN spokesman said.

WFP distributed vouchers through a local supplier to nearly 190,000 people in Sana'a city and Aden, also in Yemen, in a new initiative. By using vouchers, the agency aims to speed up the delivery of food assistance and boost local markets -- and plans to reach 1 million people in this way by the end of 2016.

Yemen, an impoverished Arab country, has been gripped by one of the most active regional al-Qaida insurgencies in the Middle East and the affiliate of the Islamic State.

The security situation in the country has deteriorated since March 2015, when war broke out between Shiite Houthi group, supported by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government, backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition. Endit