United Nations announces end of Yemen peace talks amid new fighting

Since the ceasefire began alongside the peace talks on Tuesday, battles have been continuing in some provinces including those on the border between Yemen and Saudi Arabia. Dozens of tanks and armored vehicles were destroyed, according to the witnesses and security officials, who remain neutral in the conflict that has splintered the Arab world’s poorest country.

Three civilians in the Saudi border city of Najran have been killed after being struck by a missile coming from war-torn Yemen, AFP reported.

A Saudi-led coalition has been fighting rebels Houthis since March 26. Local units of the al-Qaeda and the Islamic State have taken advantage of the crisis, creating their own areas of influence.

The fighting comes as the Yemeni rebel delegation at peace talks in Switzerland suspended meetings with the internationally recognised government last Friday in protest over its cease-fire violations.

Separately, the UN-brokered peace talks between the government, the Houthis and other parties resumed today in Switzerland after a one-day boycott by the Houthis.

By late Saturday night, the continued combat was already impacting the negotiations.

A halt to the violence is sorely needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation, where the UN says fighting since March has killed thousands of people and left around 80 percent of the population needing humanitarian aid.

Meanwhile, loyalist forces were within 40 kilometres of Houthi-held capital Sanaa as they pressed their advance against the insurgents, military sources said.

The five prisoners, including Defense Minister Mahmoud Subaihi and Gen. Nasser Mansour Hadi, brother of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, were to have been handed over to the Red Cross on Saturday.

“There was noticeable progress but not enough to reunite Yemen… unfortunately there were numerous violations (of the cease-fire)”, he told reporters, adding that the two sides had agreed on a framework for further negotiations on January 14 at a venue to be determined. The participants spoke anonymously since they were not authorized to brief reporters.