Yemen peace push gathers pace ahead of UN envoy's visit

Sanaa - Efforts to end Yemen's devastating war picked up pace on yesterday as the government and rebels edged closer to peace talks and Britain led a push at the UN Security Council for an immediate truce.

The moves come ahead of a visit in the next few days to the Arabian Peninsula country by UN envoy Martin Griffiths, who is once again trying to get all sides around the negotiating table.

"The government has informed the UN envoy to Yemen... that it will send a government delegation to the talks with the aim of reaching a political solution," Yemen's foreign ministry said, quoted by the official Saba news agency.

Earlier Mohammed Ali al-Huthi, head of the Huthi rebels' Higher Revolutionary Committee and an influential political figure, tweeted that he wanted his group to announce "readiness to suspend and halt all military operations" and stop firing missiles on Saudi Arabia.

Riyadh, which is leading a coalition backing the Yemeni government, also lent its support to new talks.

A UN draft resolution on Yemen presented to the Security Council on yesterday calls for an immediate truce in the battleground port city of Hodeida, according to the draft seen by AFP.

The text, circulated by Britain to the 14 other council members, sets a two-week deadline for the warring sides to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid.

The proposed resolution would significantly ratchet up the pressure on the Saudi-led coalition and the Iran-backed Huthi rebels to seek a negotiated settlement in Yemen, where millions are on the brink of starvation.

- 'Renewed commitment' -

The Huthis have controlled Yemen's capital Sanaa since capturing it in late 2014. They also still hold Hodeida, home to a key port on the Red Sea.

The rebels have also fired hundreds of ballistic missiles into neighbouring Saudi Arabia, which has since 2015 has led a military coalition to restore to power President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi's government.

Griffiths welcomed the rebel move towards ending missile strikes, saying he "hopes that all parties continue to exercise restraint to create a conducive environment" for talks.

He is expected to visit the Yemeni capital of Sanaa this week to finalise arrangements for peace talks in Sweden, a date for which has not yet been set.

On yesterday, Saudi King Salman told the Shura Council, his country's top advisory body, that Riyadh also supported a "political solution" and a "comprehensive national dialogue" in Yemen.

Griffiths said both the Saudi-backed government and the Huthi rebels have shown a "renewed commitment" to reaching a political solution.

Multiple past attempts to hold negotiations between the government alliance and Huthis have failed.

In September, the rebels refused to fly to Geneva for UN-hosted talks after their delegation was stuck in Oman for three months in 2016 when talks collapsed. But on Friday Griffiths offered to travel with the Huthis to Sweden "if that's what is needed".

- 'Stop the bloodshed' -

The Huthis' foreign minister, Hisham Sharaf Abdallah, met UN officials late Sunday, and was quoted by the rebels' news agency as saying that the UN and the international community should "adopt the political path to stop the bloodshed".

British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt arrived yesterday in Iran for the first time to discuss Tehran's role in Yemen, meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif.

"We are very, very keen to move towards peace in Yemen. That's our number one priority at the moment," Hunt told British television after the talks.

Fighting in Yemen intensified at the start of November as the coalition renewed an offensive aimed at seizing Hodeida, whose port serves as entry point for nearly all of the country's imports and humanitarian aid.

Pro-government forces announced a pause in their offensive last week as international pressure grew for a ceasefire.

But the coalition insisted yesterday that their operations were still ongoing, with spokesman Turki al-Maliki saying they were targeting rebel reinforcements even as he voiced support for the talks.

An AFP correspondent in Hodeida said yesterday the city remained calm, although the rebel-run Al-Masirah TV said the coalition had carried out seven air strikes in the surrounding province and one inside Hodeida city.

The rebels also reported fresh clashes in a battle front near Sanaa on yesterday, Al-Masirah said.

The World Health Organization says nearly 10,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the Saudi intervention in March 2015, but rights groups believe the toll may be five times higher.

The war in Yemen -- already one of the world's most impoverished countries -- has left the nation on the edge of mass starvation.