Yemen rebel ally welcomes peace talks

AFP, SANAA: The party of Yemen's former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key rebel ally, yesterday welcomed UN-brokered peace talks due to open in Switzerland at the weekend. The General People's Congress said it had not yet received a formal invitation from the United Nations but the UN envoy met with party representatives in the rebel-held capital late last month as part of his efforts to convene the talks in Geneva. Saleh himself is under UN sanctions for his support for the rebels and did not take part in the meetings, party sources said. The party "welcomes holding the Geneva conference for consultations between Yemeni political components without any preconditions from any group, with good will and under the patronage of the United Nations," its almotamar.net website said. Saleh, who ruled for 33 years before being forced from power in 2012 after a bloody year-long uprising, threw the support of his loyalists in the army behind the rebels in the sweeping offensive that forced his successor into exile in March.He himself proposed Geneva as the venue for the talks as a compromise between rebel-held Sanaa and the Saudi capital Riyadh, where exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi is based.

Yemen rebel ally welcomes peace talks

AFP, SANAA: The party of Yemens former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key rebel ally, yesterday welcomed UN-brokered peace talks due to open in Switzerland at the weekend. The General Peoples Congress said it had not yet received a formal invitation from the United Nations but the UN envoy met with party representatives in the rebel-held capital late last month as part of his efforts to convene the talks in Geneva. Saleh himself is under UN sanctions for his support for the rebels and did not take part in the meetings, party sources said. The party welcomes holding the Geneva conference for consultations between Yemeni political components without any preconditions from any group, with good will and under the patronage of the United Nations, its almotamar.net website said. Saleh, who ruled for 33 years before being forced from power in 2012 after a bloody year-long uprising, threw the support of his loyalists in the army behind the rebels in the sweeping offensive that forced his successor into exile in March.He himself proposed Geneva as the venue for the talks as a compromise between rebel-held Sanaa and the Saudi capital Riyadh, where exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi is based.