UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen Martin Griffiths (C) addresses the media in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 5, 2018. Martin Griffiths on Wednesday announced here that warring parties in Yemen are scheduled to participate a new round of peace talks in Geneva to end the four-year conflict engulfing the country. (Xinhua/Xu Jinquan)
GENEVA, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- UN Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, on Wednesday announced here that warring parities in Yemen are scheduled to participate a new round of peace talks in Geneva to end the four-year conflict engulfing the country.
Speaking at a press conference here, the UN envoy said the new talks will begin on Thursday and at this stage the parties will mainly discuss the framework for negotiations and relevant confidence-building measures so as to move the process forward.
Saying that he had met people from every segment of Yemeni society over seven months, the UN envoy said that "we have all agreed the time has come to begin a new process which will lead to a resolution of this conflict which has tragically marked the lives of so many Yemenis and continues to do so".
"We are talking about consultations. This is not formal negotiation," he said, noting that details still need to be hammered out for measures to resolve the conflict for which "there is no military solution".
The UN envoy said he is hoping that both parties will meet in the same room, but they do not have to as he tries to "build confidence" in both parties in the three days initially set aside for the talks.
"We have an opportunity to make progress towards a solution in Yemen," the UN official said at the beginning of Wednesday's press conference.
"This is an opportunity for that page to be turned, we want to understand the issues of both parties," he added.
The last UN-backed peace negotiations for Yemen was held in 2016 in Kuwait, which continued for several months in the Gulf country but no constructive results had been reached due to serious differences between the rival parties.
As for the duration of the new talks, Griffiths said he did not want to define a "timetable" for the consultation.
"If it is going at a cracking pace we will keep going," he noted, adding that he hoped to start informal consultations with members of the Yemeni government side led by the country's Foreign Minister Khaled Yamani, later Wednesday night.
Saying that UN and others are working to ensure the timely arrival of the Houthi delegation, Griffiths told reporters that the Houthis want to attend, and he will make sure they will.
Yemen has been locked into a civil war since the Houthi rebels overran much of the country militarily and seized all northern provinces, including capital Sanaa, in 2014.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Houthi rebels forced him into exile.
The United Nations and other organizations have listed Yemen as the world's number one humanitarian crisis, with an estimated 8 million of them remain precariously close to famine after a 25 percent increase in the levels of severe hunger over the last year.
According to a latest statement by the World Food Programme, intensified conflict is making the humanitarian situation in the country worse and worse, particularly in Hodeidah, the key port which is a lifeline for millions in north western Yemen.
