UN envoy to Yemen in Sanaa to discuss plans for Houthi withdrawal from Hodeidah

Martin Griffiths, the United Nations special envoy to Yemen, is expected to visit Houthi-held Sanaa on Saturday to push for resumption of peace talks after three previous failed efforts.

Griffiths’ visit comes in the framework of his new tour to Yemen which began last Thursday after meeting with Yemen’s President Abd Rabo Mansour Hadi and a number of his government’s cabinet of ministers.

Political sources said that Griffith would meet a number of Houthi militia leaders and officials of the unrecognized coup government to discuss arrangements for reviving the peace talks negotiations as part of a vision the UN envoy plans to present to the UN Security Council on June 7.

At the top of the agenda will be the discussions surrounding the port city of Hodeidah and persuading the Houthis to withdraw from the city and hand over supervision to UN officials.

The envoy’s visit comes as local Yemeni sources said that the Houthi militias have been preventing civilians wishing to leave Hodeidah from leaving, raising concerns about their use as human shields after deploying heavy weapons north of the city.