Saudi Gazette report RIYADH — Yemen's President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi said his government will not negotiate with Iran-backed rebels at UN-sponsored peace talks due to open in Switzerland this weekend. In comments broadcast on Monday, Hadi said the sole item for discussion would be the implementation of a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council in April demanding the rebels' withdrawal from the swaths of the country they have seized. “There will be no negotiations,” Hadi told Al-Arabiya television. “It will be just a discussion about how to implement UN Security Council Resolution 2216. We will have a consultation.” Asked if his government's delegation would discuss reconciliation with the rebel negotiating team, Hadi said: “Not at all.” Announcing the talks on Saturday, UN chief Ban Ki-moon asked all sides to enter the talks without preconditions. Ban “reiterates his urgent call on all Yemeni parties to engage in these consultations in good faith and without preconditions in the interest of all Yemeni people,” his spokesman said. He said the talks were aimed at securing a ceasefire, agreeing on a withdrawal plan for the Houthi rebels and stepping up deliveries of humanitarian aid. In the interview, Hadi again hit out at Iran, charging that its meddling in his country's affairs was “more dangerous than Al-Qaeda.” “Al-Qaeda could be eliminated, but here we have a systematically politicized action,” he said. “I had asked Iran: ‘lift your hand from Yemen',” Hadi said. “I did not bring this from vacuum. We caught people who had been trained by the (Iranian) Revolutionary Guard. They were jailed in our prisons,” he added. Yemen's Prime Minister and Vice President Khaled Bahah said the upcoming UN-sponsored peace talks are aimed at “restoring power” to his government and pressuring Houthis to withdraw from cities they occupy.
