Saudi UN envoy optimistic about Yemen talks

The Saudi ambassador to the United Nations said Wednesday he was optimistic that a new round of peace talks for Yemen will get off the ground this month after many weeks of preparation.

UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been laying the groundwork for talks between the Saudi-backed Yemeni government and Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa last year.

"We are optimistic. We are hopeful that the talks will take place," Saudi Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi said at a meeting with leaders of the Yemeni community in the United States.

Mouallimi said Huthi rebels had sought to sidestep demands in a UN resolution that they withdraw from territory seized in their campaign, but that they had "recently backed down" and were ready to negotiate a pullback.

Caption: File photo: Smoke billows from the site of a Saudi-led air strike on a Houthi position in the outskirts of Yemen's southern port city of Aden

Photo Credit: ca.news.yahoo.com