The upcoming talks aimed at reaching a political settlement in Yemen will be held in Geneva in early September, revealed diplomatic sources to Asharq Al-Awsat.
The first round of Yemen talks were held in the Swiss city back in 2015. Two other rounds were later held in Switzerland’s Biel city before moving to Kuwait.
The sources predicted that the latest round of discussions will last between three and four days, saying that Griffiths will likely adopt a different approach than his predecessor Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Griffiths is expected to announce before the UN Security Council later on Thursday the date of the Geneva talks and the outline of his vision of the Yemen peace settlement.
This will mark the second time that he personally heads to the Council to discuss Yemen. On the two previous occasions, he had addressed the Council through video call.
In a related development, the Saudi-led Arab coalition declared on Wednesday that it had carried out an assessment of the Iran-backed Houthi militias’ hostile actions against international navigation in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait and Red Sea.
Coalition spokesman Colonel Turki al-Maliki said that the “alliance, in coordination with the international community, has taken all necessary measures to ensure freedom of navigation and international trade through the Strait and southern Red Sea.”
The measures are in line with international law and relevant United Nations Security Council resolutions, starting with resolution 2216, he stressed.
