Yemeni Government Not to Cave In to Houthi Rebels' Demands

DUBAI (Sputnik) — The Yemeni government will not make any concessions to the Houthi rebels, the country's prime minister, Ahmed Obeid bin Daghr, said Monday.

"Neither Houthi, nor Saleh [former president] supporters will get any concessions from the lawful Yemeni government because the people of Yemen will not support this, because [the] Yemeni people know that there will be no peace without the surrender of arms to the government," bin Daghr told Sky News Arabia in an interview.

He stressed that the peace process depends on the implementation of the UN Security Council Resolution 2216, which stipulates that the rebels should pull back and surrender their arms.

On Saturday, another round of inter-Yemeni peace talks held in Kuwait and brokered by the United Nations ended with the government and the Houthi rebels failing to come to an agreement. According to UN Special Envoy for Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the parties are expected to return to the negotiating table no sooner than in a month.

Yemen has been engulfed in a military conflict between the government headed by President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and Houthi rebels, the country’s main opposition force, which have been supported by army units loyal to former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, since 2014.