GENEVA (Rahnuma): The UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, on Wednesday announced here that warring parities in Yemen are scheduled to participate in a new round of peace talks in Geneva since they “all agree that the time has come to restart the political process”.
Speaking at a press conference in Geneva, the envoy said the new talks will begin on Thursday and at this stage the parties will mainly discuss the framework for negotiations and relevant confidence-building measures so as to move the process forward.
The last UN-backed peace negotiations for Yemen was held in 2016 in Kuwait, which continued for several months in the Gulf country but no constructive results had been reached due to serious differences between the rival parties.
“We have an opportunity to make progress towards a solution in Yemen,” the UN official said at the beginning the press conference. “This is an opportunity for that page to be turned; we want to understand the issues of both parties.”
Stressing that there is no military solution to the conflict in Yemen, Griffiths told reporters that diplomacy is “essential” to the upcoming talks, even if a substantial deal must be struck at a later date.
According to the envoy, the Yemeni government delegation has arrived in Geneva and initial discussions with the government representatives will start on Wednesday night.
