ADEN, Yemen, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- The Saudi-backed Yemeni government announced Monday to take part in the peace talks planned to be held by the United Nations in Sweden during the next few weeks.
According to the state-run Saba news agency, the government through its Foreign Ministry sent a letter to the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths, declaring its full commitment to participating in the next peace talks with a complete negotiating team.
The government called on the UN to pressure the Houthi rebels to respond to the peace efforts positively and attend the upcoming negotiations without placing preconditions, Saba said.
The internationally-backed government concluded its letter by demanding the UN to confront any Houthi disruption attempts including delaying or not attending the scheduled negotiations with a firm stance, according to Saba.
On Friday, the UN envoy for Yemen said that he plans to visit Hodeidah next week to work toward a UN supervision over the Yemeni port that handles 80 percent of the humanitarian relief to the war-torn country.
"I plan to visit Hodeidah next week ... to revisit a UN supervisory role (for the port)," Griffiths told the Security Council.
Griffiths said that he intends to convene peace talks between the warring factions "shortly" in Sweden in a bid to end the four-year long military conflict in the war-torn Arab country.
The fighting raging over the control of the Red Sea port city erupted following the collapse of peacemaking efforts by the UN in Geneva on Sept. 8, as Houthi rebels refused to attend.
The Yemeni troops made significant gains and advanced to near the city center in Hodeidah during the past few days, but fighting with Houthi rebels was temporarily paused for humanitarian purposes despite sporadic attacks.
Capturing the port city would be a major victory for the government since the civil war erupted four years ago, and could force the loser to sit down at the negotiation table.
The military conflict in Yemen began with the 2014 takeover of the capital of Sanaa by the Houthis, which overthrew Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi. The Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.
The coalition has been trying to retake the strategic city of Hodeidah from the Houthis, but halted an offensive three days ago amid international concern about a humanitarian catastrophe that an all-out operation could spark.
The de-escalation of fighting was described by Yemeni sources as "an unannounced cease-fire" hammered out by powerful Western countries in order to pave the way for new UN-sponsored peace talks.
