Yemeni government in Riyadh says meetings taking place ‘at American request’ in Oman amid reports that rebels are holding five US citizens

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

Four Americans held in Yemen by Houthi rebels – report Read more

Senior figures from Yemen’s dominant Houthi group are holding talks with US officials in Oman to advance efforts to resolve the conflict in Yemen, the Riyadh-based Yemeni government said on Sunday.

On Friday, a report by the Washington Post said Houthi rebels were holding four Americans captive, in addition to Sharif Mobley, the American citizen who has long been held in the country.

A Saudi-led coalition began air strikes in Yemen in March in a campaign to restore Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi to power. Hadi fled in March, after the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels seized the capital Sanaa in September and then thrust into central and south Yemen.

Nearly 2,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 19 March, according to the United Nations.

“We have been informed that there are meetings, at American request, and that a private American plane carried the Houthis to Muscat,” Rajeh Badi, a spokesman for Yemen’s government in exile told Reuters by telephone from the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

The Yemeni government was not party to the talks, Badi said. There was no immediate comment from the Houthis or from US officials.

If confirmed, the Oman meeting would be the first between the Houthis and the US, Saudi Arabia’s main foreign ally, since the start of the war. The US has said it was providing arms and intelligence to Saudi Arabia during its campaign in Yemen.

“We hope that these talks are being held in the context of international efforts to implement UN security council resolution 2216,” Badi said.

The resolution, adopted in April, includes a call on all parties in Yemen, including the Houthis, to immediately and unconditionally end violence.

UN special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has renewed efforts to set a new date for Yemeni political factions to meet in Geneva for peace talks, which were postponed indefinitely after Hadi demanded delays.

Houthi spokesman Mohammed Abdul-Salam announced on 23 May that he had departed with an official delegation from the group to neighbouring Oman to discuss the conflict with the Omani government, a frequent peace broker in the region.

Though a member of the six-state Gulf Cooperation Council, which also includes Saudi Arabia, Oman has not participated Saudi-led air strikes.

Yemeni politicians who met Ould Cheikh Ahmed in Sanaa on Saturday said he had informed them that “indirect talks” were underway in Muscat between the Houthi delegation and US officials through Omani mediation.

Officials from the UN envoy’s team were not immediately available to comment.

Hadi has demanded the Houthis recognise his authority and withdraw from Yemen’s main cities – both points demanded by last month’s UN security council resolution – as preconditions for talks.

The Houthis say their expansion is part of a revolution against hardline Sunni Muslim militants and corrupt officials, and have demanded an end to the Arab bombing before negotiations.