UN envoy in Yemen for emergency talks

Yemeni pro-government forces stand next to a pickup truck carrying anti-aircraft guns along they way to al-Durayhimi district, about nine kilometres south of Hodeidah international airport on 13 June 2018. Photo: AFP
Yemeni pro-government forces stand next to a pickup truck carrying anti-aircraft guns along they way to al-Durayhimi district, about nine kilometres south of Hodeidah international airport on 13 June 2018. Photo: AFP

The UN envoy for Yemen arrived in the rebel-held capital Sanaa on Saturday for talks on the key aid port of Hodeida where rebel fighters are battling a regional coalition.

Martin Griffiths is expected to propose to rebel leaders that they cede control of the Red Sea port to a UN-supervised committee to avoid further fighting with advancing government troops which are backed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Some 70 per cent of Yemeni imports pass through the city’s docks and the fighting has raised UN fears of humanitarian catastrophe in a country already teetering on the brink of famine.