UN says working for Yemen peace talks with Saudi Arabia

US Secretary of State John Kerry said the Saudi-led coalition, which backs the government in its fight against the Houthi group, supported a ceasefire plan

A Yemeni inspects the rubble of a destroyed building following an air strike on a funeral ceremony in the capital Sanaa on October 8, 2016. Rebels in control of Yemens capital accused the Saudi-led coalition fighting them of killing or wounding dozens of people in air strikes on Sanaa. The insurgent-controlled news site sabanews.net said that coalition planes hit a building in the capital where people had gathered to mourn the death of an official, resulting in dozens of dead or wounded. (Mohammed Huwais/AFP/Getty Images)

The United Nations said on Friday
it was working with Saudi Arabia to try to bring Yemen's
government to peace talks after it rejected a plan brokered by
the United States.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that the
Saudi-led coalition, that backs the government in its fight
against the Houthi group, supported a ceasefire plan that the
Houthis have agreed to.

But President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's administration
rejected Kerry's move, complaining that it played into the hands
of the Houthis and sidelined the government.

"We are working very closely with Saudi Arabia and other
countries in the region that can influence (the parties to the
conflict)," U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson told a
news conference in Geneva.

"We have discovered a stronger and stronger view that this
war must come to an end but we have to bring them back to
negotiating table," he said, giving no timeline.

The Houthis said on Wednesday they were ready to stop
fighting and join a national unity government, raising hopes of
a resolution to a conflict that has killed more than 10,000
people.

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Reuters