UN Cannot Confirm Yemen Gov't Delegation Intention To Leave Peace Talks If Houthis Absent

UN Cannot Confirm Yemen Gov't Delegation Intention to Leave Peace Talks If Houthis Absent

The United Nations has no information regarding the Yemeni government delegation desire to leave the peace consultations in Geneva if the Houthi delegation would not arrive, a UN source told Sputnik Thursday.

GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th September, 2018) The United Nations has no information regarding the Yemeni government delegation desire to leave the peace consultations in Geneva if the Houthi delegation would not arrive, a UN source told Sputnik Thursday.

On Wednesday, the Houthi movement said that their delegation could not leave the city of Sanaa due to the lack of a permission from the Saudi-led coalition, which controls Yemeni airspace. The coalition has not granted the plane permission to return safely yet, according to the Houthis. However, coalition spokesman Turki Maliki said it gave the green-light to the plane of the Houthi delegation to depart for the talks, but the rebels did not use the opportunity.

"According to my information, the government delegation did not put forward such a requirement to the organizers of the consultations and did not hint at it," the source said.

Earlier in the day, A UN source told Sputnik that the organization had been working since Wednesday to ensure the arrival of the Houthi delegation. The source said the situation might be resolved at any moment.

The consultations in Geneva are expected to bring together the parties to the ongoing Yemeni conflict.

Yemen is engulfed in an armed conflict between the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and the Houthi movement, also known as Ansar Allah. The Saudi-led coalition of mostly Persian Gulf nations has been carrying out airstrikes against the Houthis at Hadi's request since March 2015. A recent report by the UN experts suggested that all parties to the conflict may have been involved in war crimes.