SANAA, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Yemen's Houthi rebels on Wednesday said in a statement they are ready to end fighting and engage in a political settlement brokered by the United Nations.
"The Supreme Political Council (the rebels' top ruling body) reaffirms the readiness for engaging in the UN-brokered peace process to reach a political settlement," the statement was quoted by the Houthi-controlled Saba news agency as saying.
Earlier in the day, the UN Special Envoy for Yemen, Martin Griffiths, welcomed the calls by the United States and Britain for the immediate resumption of the Yemeni political process and measures to reach a cessation of hostilities in Yemen.
In a statement on his official Twitter account, Griffiths stressed that there can be no military solution to the Yemeni conflict.
"I urge all concerned parties to seize this opportunity to engage constructively with our current efforts to swiftly resume political consultations to agree on a framework for political negotiations and confidence-building measures, in particular enhancing the capacities of the Central Bank of Yemen, the exchange of prisoners and the re-opening of Sanaa airport," he said.
"We remain committed to bringing the Yemeni parties to the negotiation table within a month," Griffiths added.
On Sept. 8, the UN-hosted peace talks in Geneva collapsed after the Houthi rebels refused to attend, claiming that the UN did not guarantee the safe return of the Houthi delegation.
The move triggered the internationally recognized Yemeni government forces backed by the Saudi-led coalition warplanes to advance into the edges of rebel-held Red Sea port city of Hodeidah, the entry point of the country's 70 percent of imports and aid.
Following the collapse of Geneva talks, Griffiths told a Security Council meeting that "the level of confidence (between Yemeni rival parties) is at its lowest and the human and humanitarian cost is ever rising."
Two previous peace talks in Switzerland and Kuwait in 2016 brokered by the United Nations also collapsed.
Yemen's war has so far killed more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, and displaced 3 million others.
Saudi Arabia is leading an Arab military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 to support the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi after the Iranian-allied Houthi rebels forced him into exile and seized much of the country's north, including the capital Sanaa.
