Yemen FM: Houthis in Geneva were like ‘ghosts’

The Yemeni Foreign Minister compared on Sunday Iranian-backed Houthi militias and their allies to ghosts, claiming that they spent most of their time in their hotel during the Geneva peace talks on Yemen.

In an exclusive interview with the London-based Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat, top diplomat Riyadh Yassin said that Houthis did not try to cooperate during the talks aimed at ending the conflict in the war-torn country.

Yassin also said that the talks were one-sided and that the inflexibility of the Houthi militias prevented the implementation of U.N. Resolution 2216.

Resolution 2216 demands that the Iranian-backed Houthis and forces loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh quit cities they seized since last September and surrender heavy weapons.

During the interview, Yassin said that the arrival of U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to Yemen in order to end the crisis was the basis of his work as a U.N. envoy.

Yassin also said that Hadi’s government has advised Ahmed not to negotiate with Houthis outside Yemen as they are considered armed militias.