Yemen’s Houthi rebels and their allies have agreed to join delayed United Nations (UN)-brokered peace talks in Kuwait, their representatives said on Wednesday.
The rebels agreed to join the talks after the UN envoy and ambassadors assured that a ceasefire in effect since April 11 would be respected by loyalist forces, the rebels’ Al-Masirah television quoted Houthi representative Saleh al-Sammad as saying.
Mahdi al-Mashat, a representative of rebel leader Abdulmalik al-Houthi, said the rebels had been assured that the agenda for the talks would be “clear and tackle issues that could help achieve peaceful solutions”.
Writing on Facebook, Mashat warned however that “we will have the right to suspend our participation” if the assurances are not met. He said Houthi representatives would leave at “noon tomorrow” but it was unclear whether he was referring to Wednesday or Thursday.
A representative of the rebel-allied General People’s Congress party, Yasser Alawadi, said on Twitter that his delegation would travel to Kuwait on Thursday.
The talks, which were set to open in Kuwait on Monday, were delayed after the insurgents failed to show up over alleged Saudi violations of the ceasefire.
