ADEN, Yemen, Feb. 24 (Xinhua) -- An undeclared round of UN-brokered talks between Yemen's warring factions failed to reach an agreement to end the years-long military conflict in the Arab country, a Yemeni official said on Thursday.
"During the past months, the Houthi rebel militia and Yemen's government engaged in a series of undeclared negotiations under the auspices of the United Nations in Oman in an attempt to end the bloody fighting," the local government source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
"U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking and UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg largely participated in organizing the talks," he said.
He clarified that the talks continued for several months but failed to reach a political plan to end the conflict.
Last month, the Houthi negotiating team based in Oman held talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian on the developments of Yemen's war as well as the humanitarian and political situation, the Houthis-affiliated Masirah television network reported.
Currently, the international community largely relies on Oman as the mediator to end the Yemen conflict, as it has solid relations with the various parties involved.
For more than seven years, Yemen has been engulfed in a conflict between the pro-government forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the Iranian-backed Houthis, whose troops have occupied key northern provinces, including the capital Sanaa, since September 2014.
Until the end of 2021, the war in Yemen had killed 377,000 people directly and indirectly, according to the United Nations.
The war has cost the war-torn country's economy 126 billion U.S. dollars, making it one of the world's biggest humanitarian and economic crises, according to UN estimates issued in November 2021. ■
