Intra-Yemeni talks, sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), got underway on Wednesday in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
GCC Secretary-General Nayef al-Hajjaf said “today’s talks are being closely watched by all Yemenis, with hopes that a solution can be found between the country’s rival factions.”
“The only way out of Yemen’s crisis is through peaceful means,” he stated.
The GCC-sponsored talks are aimed at finding solutions to Yemen’s civil war, which began in 2014.
Secretary-General of the OIC, Hussein Ibrahim Taha, stated that dialogue is the only way to end Yemen’s eight-year conflict.
Yemenis, he continued, “have the right to aspiration to a decent life and to a better future”.
Negotiations are being boycotted by Houthi rebels because they want them to be held in a “neutral country”.
Since the Iran-aligned Houthis took control of much of Yemen in 2014, including the capital Sanaa, the country has been mired in violence and instability.
Nearly 80 percent of the country’s population is in need of humanitarian assistance and protection, and the UN estimates that over 13 million people are at risk of starvation as a result of the conflict.
