Informal consultations between the Yemeni government and the rebel Houthi movement on the settlement of Yemen's civil conflict with may kick off in Geneva later on Wednesday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said.
GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2018) Informal consultations between the Yemeni government and the rebel Houthi movement on the settlement of Yemen's civil conflict with may kick off in Geneva later on Wednesday, UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths said.
"The great thing is we can begin informal consultations tonight," Griffiths told reporters ahead of the UN-sponsored Geneva Consultations on Yemen, scheduled for Thursday.
The diplomat suggested that the delay in the Houthi delegation's arrival at the negotiations should not be a point of concern.
"I think [things] will sort themselves out. If you look at the previous negotiations with Yemen there has always been a delay. So I am not taking this seriously," Griffiths pointed out.
The envoy called the consultations in August amid another wave of escalation of the conflict in the middle Eastern country. Griffiths has said that the negotiations will be focused on finding the political solution to the Yemeni crisis.
The consultations will be the first meeting between the Yemeni government and the rebels since 2016 when the parties failed to reach an agreement during talks held under the UN auspices.
The Yemeni conflict has been raging since 2015. The situation in the country is deteriorated by an acute economic crisis, the spread of famine and various diseases.
The UN figures show that between March 2015 and August 2018, 6,660 civilians were killed and 10,563 injured in Yemen. The United Nations notes, however, that the real figures are likely to be significantly higher.
