Yahya Doad (2nd R), a member of the General Committee of the General People’s Congress Party, and Mohammed Abdul-Salam (2nd L), head of the Houthi delegation to scheduled peace talks in Kuwait, gesture after they finish a news conference at Sanaa Airport, Yemen, April 20, 2016. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi
On Thursday, U.N.-sponsored talks to end Yemen’s war opened in Kuwait. The talks between Houthi group and its General People’s Congress party allies with the Saudi-backed government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, were originally scheduled to start on Monday.
Kuwait’s foreign minister has appealed both sides to “turn war into peace” after more than a year of conflict which has killed 6,200 people and caused a humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
“The choice today is one of two options: a safe homeland that ensures security for all of its citizens… or remnants of a land whose sons die every day,” U.N. special envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said in an opening speech.