The United Arab Emirates (UAE), whose troops are fighting Yemeni rebels alongside government forces, yesterday said that it would fully support new peace talks after UN-brokered negotiations broke down earlier this month.
Emirati Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash said he had held “very productive discussions” with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Martin Griffiths on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
“Reaffirmed strong support for UN-led political process after Geneva setback,” Gargash tweeted. “Will fully support UN proposals for new talks soon.”
Photo: EPA-EFE
The UN envoy has been shuttling between all sides in the devastating civil war that has killed nearly 10,000 people in Yemen since March 2015 in a bid to get peace talks back on track.
Planned negotiations in Geneva, Switzerland, broke down on Sept. 8 after rebel delegates refused to show up until receiving guaranteed flights home afterward.
The UAE, Saudi Arabia and their allies have enforced an air-and-sea blockade of rebel-held areas of Yemen since they intervened in March 2015, when Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi fled into exile.
Photo: AFP
On Sept. 9, government and UAE troops resumed their offensive on Hodeida after a brief suspension while the UN attempted to convene peace talks.
The assault on the port city was the trigger for the new peace push.
Hodeida is the point of entry for UN aid shipments and also handles 70 percent of commercial shipping, and the UN warned of a humanitarian catastrophe if the port were put out of use.
Hadi’s government is recognized by the international community even though the rebels control the capital, Sana’a, and much of the north.
The civil war has pushed Yemen, long the Arab world’s poorest country, to the brink of famine.
Human rights groups have said that more than 5 million children face imminent starvation.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese