DOHA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th September, 2018) Abdul Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Yemeni Houthi movement, has accused the Saudi-led coalition of Arab states of derailing the inter-Yemeni negotiations in Geneva, for which the Houthi delegation has failed to come.
The UN-mediated Geneva consultations on Yemen between the Houthis and the Yemeni government were to start on Thursday. However, the Houthis' representatives failed to show up at the talks, claiming that the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the Yemeni air space, did not allow them to leave and return peacefully. According to the coalition, Houthis were greenlighted to leave on time, but did not use the opportunity.
"The enemy [Saudi-led] coalition had planned to disrupt the negotiations in advance since the enemy does not want a peaceful and just solution to the conflict," al-Houthi said as quoted by the Almasirah tv channel on Saturday.
According to al-Houthi, the Houthi delegation's demand to ensure its unhampered return to Yemen after consultations in Geneva was its legitimate right rather than a condition.
He recalled that after the first round of UN-mediated consultations the movement's delegation had managed to return to Yemen only in exchange for US spies detained in Yemen.
Yemen is in a state of a civil war, with the government headed by Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi fighting the Houthi movement, with the help of the Saudi-led coalition that has been carrying out airstrikes targeted at the areas controlled by the Houthis since March 2015.
