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Yemen's warring parties resume peace talks despite ceasefire breaches

Xinhua, May 10, 2016 Adjust font size:

Yemen's warring parties came back to the peace table in Kuwait on Monday after a day of suspension in protest over shaky ceasefire breaches, a UN envoy said.

"The working groups on political issues, security matters and prisoners and detainees held their meetings simultaneously," the UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said in a statement on his Twitter account on Monday.

"I salute the delegations' cooperation today. We are at a true crossroads, either moving towards peace or going back to square one," the UN envoy added.

Delegations from the Sunni Saudi-backed Yemeni exiled government and it's foe, the Iran-allied Shiite Houthi dominant group and it's loyalists of forces led by former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh have been in Kuwait since April 21 to negotiate a consensus peace deal under the UN supervision to end bloody year-long civil war that turned the poorest country into total chaos.

The fragile ceasefire has been largely held since it went into effect on April 10 to pave a smooth road for the ongoing talks in Kuwait.

However, major violations hit the truce after Houthi group accused Saudi-led coalition warplanes of killing seven Houthi followers in northeast the Houthi-held capital Sanaa on Sunday, which triggered Houthi and Saleh delegations to walk out of the table talks in protest.

There was no immediate comment by Saudi officials on Houthi accusation.

The head of the Yemeni government delegation, Foreign Minister Abdulmalik al-Mikhlafi, said in a statement that the "rebels' delegations (Houthi and Saleh) were convinced by top Kuwaiti emirs to resume the talks for the sake of peace and Yemeni people."

Al-Mikhlafi said there was no progress on Monday talks.

Despite the UN Security Council Resolution 2216, Houthi and Saleh still insist to begin the peace talks from discussing forming partnership new government.

The resolution orders Houthi and Saleh to withdraw their militants from Sanaa and other major cities, hand back heavy weapons for the government and release political prisoners before reaching a new government to run a transitional period for parliamentary and presidential elections.

Hours after the UN envoy announced the resumption of talks on Monday, the Saudi government reported it intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Yemen.

But the Saudi-led coalition forces said it would maintain the ceasefire despite the "violation by the Houthi militia," Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

The conflict in Yemen began after Arab-spring style 2011 mass protests that eventually forced former President Saleh out of power.

Houthi fighters backed by Saleh forces stormed the capital Sanaa in September 2014 and evicted internationally recognized President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his cabinet.

Saudi-led coalition air forces intervened since March 2015, vowing to return Hadi to power and Sanaa. So far, Hadi and his government were still in exile in Riyadh, the Saudi capital.

The airstrikes and ground battles have killed over 6,000 people, half of them civilians and children, wounded 35,000 and displaced more than two million, according to aid agencies. Endit