By Mohamed al-Samei
SANAA (AA) – UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths arrival in capital Sanaa on Monday to accompany Houthi rebel negotiators to Sweden ahead of this week’s UN-sponsored peace talks.
Griffiths and Houthi negotiators will fly to Sweden aboard a Kuwaiti plane, Yemeni political sources said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to media.
The UN envoy did not make any statements upon his arrival in the Yemeni capital.
Representatives of the internationally-recognized Yemeni government and Houthi rebels are set to meet in Sweden this week for UN-sponsored talks aimed at ending the four-year conflict in the impoverished country.
Yemen has been wracked by violence since 2014, when the Houthi rebel group overran much of the country and the crisis escalated in 2015 when a Saudi-led coalition launched a devastating air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains.
Saudi Arabia and Sunni allies accuse the Houthis of acting as a proxy force for Shia Iran.
Tens of thousands of people, including civilians, are believed to have been killed and the UN estimates that around 14 million Yemenis are at risk of famine.
