Yemen govt 'determined' to renew truce with Houthis

Yemen's government wants to renew a ceasefire with the Houthi rebels and will not escalate the conflict, its foreign minister said Wednesday, as a US envoy voiced guarded hope despite the lapse in the six-month truce.

"We are determined to renew the ceasefire and address all problems through dialogue," Yemeni Foreign Minister Ahmed bin Mubarak said during a visit to Morocco.

The UN-brokered ceasefire, which was in effect since April but expired Sunday, brought a sharp reduction in hostilities and facilitated moves to alleviate the dire humanitarian situation in the country, according to aid agencies.

Some 80 percent of the population rely on aid after eight years of war.

Bin Mubarak said the government wanted to preserve those gains: "We have not made any escalatory moves, despite the Houthis announcing that the Red Sea is a military zone and directly threatening ships.”

The US special envoy on Yemen, Tim Lenderking, said the "key elements of the truce continue to hold” but called on the Houthi group to show more flexibility over an extended and expanded truce deal.

He said that talks on a truce extension broke down over Houthi "maximalist" demands that their own security personnel receives priority in payment of salaries.

"This essentially hijacked the discussion and it created a threshold that was simply too hard for the other side to contemplate and was entirely unreasonable," Lenderking told reporters.

He noted that Saudi Arabia – which has waged a military campaign in support of Yemen’s government – backed the truce, alongside “private messaging” from Iranian leaders – who back the Houthis – that indicated “they favor and embrace a political solution.”