Kerry calls for unity government in Yemen to end war
US Secretary of State John Kerry said on August 25 he had agreed in talks with Gulf Arab states and the United Nations in Saudi Arabia on a plan to restart peace talks Yemen with a goal of forming a unity government.
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UN-sponsored negotiations to end 18 months of fighting in the impoverished country on Saudi Arabia's southern border collapsed this month and the dominant Iran-allied Houthi movement there resumed shelling attacks into the kingdom.
Speaking at a press conference with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir in the Saudi city of Jeddah, Kerry said the conflict in which the kingdom has launched thousands of air strikes in favor of the exiled government had gone on too long and needed to end.
Kerry said the Houthis must cease shelling across the border with Saudi Arabia, pull back from the capital Sanaa which they took control of two years ago, cede their weapons and enter into a unity government with their domestic foes.
Yemen's internationally recognized government, based in Saudi Arabia, has made similar demands but insisted that the Houthis fulfill all those measures before any new government was formed. However Kerry suggested they could move ahead in parallel.
"We agreed on a renewed approach to negotiations with both a security and political track simultaneously working in order to provide a comprehensive settlement," Kerry said.
