United Nations Security Council holds a meeting on the situation in Yemen, at the UN headquarters in New York, Nov. 16, 2018. The UN envoy for Yemen said Friday he intends to reconvene the country's warring parties in Sweden. (Xinhua/Li Muzi)
UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- The UN envoy for Yemen said Friday he intends to reconvene the country's warring parties in Sweden.
Martin Griffiths, the special envoy of the secretary-general for Yemen, told the Security Council "we are close to resolving the preparatory issues to make this happen."
"This is a crucial moment for Yemen. I believe they are genuine" about meeting, Griffiths said.
Also, the United Nations is about to conclude an agreement between the parties on the exchange of prisoners and detainees, which Griffiths described as an important humanitarian gesture and a timely message of hope to the Yemeni people.
In the meantime, the UN special envoy plans to visit the Yemeni port city of Hodeidah next week to work toward a UN supervision over the city that handles 80 percent of humanitarian relief to the country.
Over the summer, the UN envoy made some progress to reach a negotiated handover of the port to the United Nations.
"Let us build on this rather than retreat from this," he said.
The conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital of Sanaa by the Houthis, which overthrew Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.
The coalition has been trying to retake Hodeidah from the Houthis, but halted an offensive on Hodeidah on Thursday amid international concern about a humanitarian catastrophe that an all-out operation could spark.
