UN Secretary General Guterres says that talks on reconciliation in Yemen that have been underway for almost two years should be revived, Sputnik reported.
The talks on reconciliation in Yemen should be revived, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said on Sunday.
"I am a Catholic, and Catholics believe in resurrection. So if the talks are "dead," they can always be revived. And I believe we must do it for one very simple reason – because of the suffering of the people of Yemen," Guterres said at a joint press conference with Foreign Minister of Saudi Arabia Adel Al-Jubeir.
Guterres arrived at Saudi Arabia within the framework of his first visit to the Middle East as the UN Secretary-General.
"One of the reasons for this visit is the opportunity to support our Special Envoy [for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed] in his work. And his work is to do everything possible in accordance with the international law and international resolutions in order for the end to become possible, in order to end the suffering of the people of Yemen," Guterres explained.
Yemen's civil war between the internationally recognized Aden-based government and the Houthi movement backed by army units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh erupted in March 2015. The Saudi-led coalition of Persian Gulf countries began the same month and has since been criticized for hitting civilians, causing disproportional child casualties and damaging vital non-military infrastructure.
On Saturday, leaders of the Houthi called on the United Nations to terminate the mandate of the Special Envoy, claiming that he sympathized with the Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemeni president Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi.