Saudi Arabia responded positively to U.N. truce for Yemen, official says

RIYADH (Reuters) -Saudi Arabia has responded positively to a ceasefire proposal for Yemen offered by United Nations particular envoy Hans Grundberg, a Saudi official mentioned on Thursday.

Grundberg has mentioned he was partaking with opponents in Yemen, the place a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Iran-aligned Houthis for seven years, to achieve a truce for the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which begins this weekend.

“We responded positively to his truce and we’re supporting his truce proposal,” the official mentioned in a press release.

Riyadh has struggled to extricate itself from the battle that’s seen within the area as a proxy struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Grundberg met on Thursday with the Houthi chief negotiator in Muscat and the Saudi-backed authorities’s prime minister in Riyadh to debate the truce and “humanitarian measures to ease the liberty of motion of people and important commodities to, from and inside Yemen”, his workplace mentioned on Twitter.

Two sources accustomed to the matter had mentioned the U.N. proposal, backed by the US, was for a short lived truce in alternate for permitting gasoline ships to dock at Houthi-held Hodeidah port and a small variety of business flights to function from Sanaa airport.

The coalition has imposed sea and air restrictions on areas held by the Houthis, who ousted the internationally recognised authorities from energy within the capital, Sanaa, in late 2014. The coalition intervened months later.

A nationwide ceasefire is required to restart stalled political negotiations to finish the battle which has killed tens of 1000’s and left 80% of Yemen’s inhabitants reliant on assist.

“We wish to create a optimistic and dynamic ambiance to push the Yemenis in the direction of peace … There will be no peace with no dialogue with the Houthis,” mentioned the Saudi official, whose nation is internet hosting allied Yemeni events in Gulf Cooperation Council-sponsored talks within the kingdom.

The Houthis shunned the talks for not being in a “impartial nation”.

(Writing by Ghaida Ghantous; Modifying by Grant McCool)