BERN // The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels wrapped up peace talks in Switzerland on Sunday after six days of negotiations marred by violations of an accompanying ceasefire deal, but agreed to meet again next month.
“There was noticeable progress but not enough to reunite Yemen ... unfortunately there were numerous violations,” the UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said, adding that the two sides had agreed on a framework for further negotiations on January 14 at a venue to be determined.
“It’s very clear that unfortunately, the ceasefire that was agreed upon as I said earlier wasn’t respected, and in some cases was violated from the first hours, even of these talks,” he said.
However, the head of the government negotiation team said the ceasefire would be extended for another week.
“The truce will be extended for seven more days and will then be automatically extended if it is respected by the other party,” Yemeni foreign minister Abdel Malak Al Mekhlafi told reporters in Bern.
Missiles have been fired from rebel-held areas, even slamming down on the Saudi side of the border with deadly consequences, while pro-government forces have seized several areas back from the rebels.
The talks in Switzerland, held in a remote part of Bern canton to keep media at bay, ended without any major steps forward, and were undermined by daily breaches of the ceasefire.
However, the negotiators had agreed to a range of “confidence-building measures”, Mr Cheikh Ahmed said.
These included an agreement “in principle” to release all prisoners, he said, while acknowledging that such an exchange likely would not happen before a sustainable ceasefire had been agreed.
But, he stressed, “I am optimistic about a full prisoner release and that a full prisoner release will take place very soon.”
The two sides had also agreed on the need to “lift all forms of blockade and allow safe, rapid and unhindered access for humanitarian supplies to all affected governorates,” according to a statement released at the end of the talks.
A halt to the violence is sorely needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation, where the UN says fighting since March has killed thousands of people and left around 80 per cent of the population needing humanitarian aid.
The Yemen conflict pits the internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led, US-supported coalition against the rebels, who are allied with former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and backed by Iran. The Houthis advanced from their northern strongholds to occupy the capital Sanaa in September last year.
Local affiliates of Al Qaeda and the Islamic State group have exploited the chaos to grab territory and exercise influence.
According to UN figures, the war in Yemen has killed at least 5,884 people since March, when the Saudi-led coalition launched an air campaign against the rebels after they began an offensive towards the southern port city of Aden where president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi had taken refuge after fleeing Sanaa.
Loyalists on Sunday attacked rebel positions in the northern Jawf province after seizing the provincial capital two days earlier from the Houthi rebels, pro-government militia sources said.
Coalition air strikes hit a rebel rocket launch pad in Jawf, rebel positions in the north of the western Hodeida province and an army camp in the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
Rebels meanwhile claimed to have caused casualties and equipment damage in a rocket attack on a coalition military base in Marib province east of Sanaa, but this was not confirmed by the coalition.
Military sources said that pro-government forces attacked rebel positions in southern Shabwa province, most of which is under loyalist control.
They reported casualties as the troops sought to retake the oil-rich Usaylan region from the Houthis.
Saudi Arabia meanwhile said a missile fired from Yemen on Saturday struck the border city of Najran, killing three civilians – a Saudi and two Indian workers.
Pro-government forces kept up pressure in Sanaa province’s Nihm district this weekend after significant gains in Marib province east of the capital.
Forces loyal to Mr Hadi, and allied tribes in the area, laid siege to Nihm’s Fardha military base north-east of the capital.
Despite the proximity, the roughly 40 kilometres separating Nihm from Sanaa is mostly rugged mountainous terrain.
* Agencies