Kuwait Emir Urges Yemen Foes to Press on with Peace Talks

Kuwait's emir on Wednesday urged Yemen's warring parties to press ahead with peace talks, a day after the government delegation threatened to pull out of the U.N.-brokered negotiations.

Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, whose country is hosting the talks, called on the two sides to continue negotiating to "reach positive results", the official KUNA news agency reported.

The appeal came after the emir met separately with the two delegations and the U.N. envoy, in an attempt to salvage the talks that began four weeks ago.

Senior officials from Kuwait have repeatedly mediated and sought to prevent the collapse of the negotiations aimed at ending nearly 14 months of bloodshed.

Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek al-Mikhlafi, who heads the government delegation, threatened on Tuesday to quit the talks with Iran-backed rebels, giving the U.N. envoy a "last chance" to make them comply with U.N. resolutions.

He said the rebels should acknowledge their respect to U.N. Security Council Resolution 2216 which demands the insurgents withdraw from areas they occupied since 2014 and surrender arms.

The United Nations estimates that more than 6,400 people have been killed and 2.8 million displaced in Yemen since March last year.