UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed arrived in the Yemeni capital Sanaa today in the run-up to a fresh round of UN-sponsored peace talks between the Yemeni government and the Shia Houthi group.
Later today, Ould Cheikh is expected to meet with representatives of both the Houthis and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, a Houthi source told the Anadolu Agency on condition of anonymity.
A second round of talks between the Yemeni government and the Houthis is due to kick off in Kuwait on Friday following a two-week hiatus.
A government source told Anadolu earlier that Ould Cheikh had met with government negotiators in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, yesterday but had failed to persuade them to attend the upcoming round of talks in Kuwait.
On the same day, several Yemeni political parties called on the government to suspend its participation in the negotiations until the Houthis abide by UN Security Council Resolution 2216 issued last year, which calls on the Shia group to withdraw from captured cities and lay down their arms.