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UN chief urges early start of Yemen peace talks

Xinhua, April 20, 2016 Adjust font size:

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Tuesday urged all parties in Yemen to be more committed to the peace process so as to start the peace talks at an early date.

All parties shall "engage in good faith" with the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, so that "talks can start without further delay," said a statement issued here by Ban's spokesman.

"The secretary-general is convinced that seizing this opportunity to move the process forward will help resolve outstanding issues and bring the end of this prolonged conflict closer," said the statement.

The secretary-general noted that the Yemeni government delegation has arrived in Kuwait and looks forward to the participation in the talks by Shiite Ansar Allah movement, also known as the Houthis, and the General People's Congress party headed by former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Ban also recalled the commitment of all parties to a cessation of hostilities, which took effect on April 10, and to the convening of inter-Yemeni talks in Kuwait.

The peace talks, scheduled to begin in Kuwait on Monday, had been delayed due to continued battles amid the cease-fire, which led to some parties not showing up at the meeting.

The delegations representing the Houthis group and the party of former President Saleh both failed to arrive in Kuwait for the talks, citing heavy fighting and Saudi-led air operations as the reason.

The negotiations in Kuwait are expected to center on a framework that paves the way for a peaceful and orderly process based on a Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) initiative and the outcomes of the national dialogue conference.

The Kuwait talks are the third round of negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations, after two previous ones in June and December of 2015 failed to yield any progress.

It is hoped that the talks would end more than a year of Yemen's civil war and a Saudi-led military intervention. UN figures show that more than 6,400 people, over half being civilians, have been killed and millions displaced since March 2015.

The latest cease-fire since April 10 was supposed to pave the way for Monday's talks, but both warring sides have complained of violations by the other side, including continued heavy shelling and air strikes.

The ongoing crisis in Yemen started to deteriorate in 2011, when former President Saleh was forced to step down from his 33-year rule. Endi