The Yemeni government regrets that the Houthis refused to extend the ceasefire in October, and attempts by UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy Hans Grundberg to persuade them were fruitless, Ambassador of Yemen to Russia Ahmed Salem al-Waheishi told TASS.
"The Yemeni government regrets the unsuccessful efforts of the special envoy of the United Nations Secretary-General to convince the Houthis to choose the peaceful path and their refusal to extend the truce in Yemen since October," the diplomat said.
According to him, the latest UN Security Council statement on the Yemeni settlement stressed that "the Houthis' demands in the last days of negotiations hindered the efforts of the world organization to reach an agreement," threatening negative consequences.
Russia has previously called for an extension of the ceasefire in the Middle Eastern country and to continue the negotiation process between the parties.
In Yemen, the confrontation between government forces and armed groups of Houthis has been going on since August 2014. It reached its most active phase with the Saudi Arabia-led coalition's invasion in March 2015. The conflict led to largest humanitarian crisis in the world. According to the UN, more than 24 million Yemenis (about 80% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance, and the number of internally displaced individuals exceeds 4 million.
In August, the internationally recognized Yemeni authorities and the Ansar Allah movement decided to extend a ceasefire in the country for two months. That cease-fire expired on October 2.
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Photo: Jialiang Gao/Creative Commons 3.0
Baed on materials TASS