Saudi envoy to Yemen says talks with Houthis aim to revive ceasefire

Al-Jaber said recent talks held with the Houthis in Sanaa aimed to revive a ceasefire and end conflict in the country.

“Continuing the Kingdom’s efforts to end the Yemeni crisis, and in support (of) the Saudi Initiative of 2021 to reach a comprehensive political solution in Yemen, I visit Sanaa along with a delegation from the brotherly Sultanate of Oman to stabilize the truce and ceasefire,” he tweeted on Monday.

The envoy noted that he also wants to “support the prisoner exchange process and explore venues of dialogue between Yemeni components to reach a sustainable and comprehensive political solution.”

The ambassador added that Saudi Arabia has always stood with Yemen during dire political and economic circumstances and crises.

On Sunday, Houthi media showed Al-Jaber shaking hands with Mahdi al-Mashat, the chairman of Yemen’s Supreme Political Council.

A Yemeni government source, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, stated that at the weekend that the Saudis and Houthis had agreed in principle on a new six-month truce to pave the way for talks on establishing a two-year “transition”.

A truce announced roughly a year ago has significantly reduced active hostilities within Yemen, and is still largely respected even though it officially expired in October.

Saudi Arabia launched the bloody war against Yemen in March 2015 in collaboration with a number of its allies and with arms and logistics support from the US and several Western states to reinstall Mansour Hadi, who resigned from the presidency in late 2014 and later fled to Riyadh amid a political conflict with the popular Houthi Ansarullah movement.

The war objective was also to crush the Ansarullah movement, which has been running state affairs in the absence of an effective government in Yemen.

However, it has stopped well shy of all of its goals, despite killing tens of thousands of Yemenis and turning the entire country into the scene of the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.