UN Yemen envoy to conclude region tour in Saudi Arabia

By Zakaria al-Kamali

SANAA, Yemen (AA) - UN envoy Martin Griffiths will wrap up his current tour of the Middle East -- aimed at reviving stalled Yemen peace talks -- in Saudi Arabia, UN sources revealed Tuesday.

On Wednesday, Griffiths plans to head for Riyadh from UAE capital Abu Dhabi, where he has remained since Sunday.

While in Saudi Arabia, he reportedly plans to meet several Saudi-based Yemen officials, including President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who has resided in Riyadh for the past several months.

Griffiths last met with Hadi late last month at the start of his tour, which has also taken him to Yemen and Oman.

Riyadh will be the last leg of Griffiths’ tour before he returns to New York to brief the UN Security Council on his findings in mid-April.

On Monday, Griffiths met with UAE Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed in Abu Dhabi, where he also met with leaders of Yemen’s Southern Transitional Council, which has long called for the secession of southern Yemen.

Yemen has been wracked by violence and chaos since 2014, when Shia Houthi rebels overran much of the country, including capital Sanaa.

The conflict escalated in 2015 when Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-Arab allies launched a massive air campaign aimed at rolling back Houthi gains in Yemen.

The violence has devastated Yemen’s public infrastructure, including water and sanitation systems, prompting the UN to describe the situation there as one of “the worst humanitarian disasters of modern times”.