US calls for ceasefire in Yemen within 30 days

The United States has called for a ceasefire and peace talks in Yemen, as the Saudi-led military coalition sent more than 10,000 new troops toward a vital rebel-held port city ahead of a new assault.

Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said the US had been watching the conflict “for long enough,” adding that Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which are in a US-backed coalition fighting Houthi rebels, are ready for talks.

“We have got to move toward a peace effort here, and we can’t say we are going to do it sometime in the future,” Mattis said at the US Institute of Peace in Washington.

“We need to be doing this in the next 30 days.”

He said the US is calling for all warring parties to meet with United Nations special envoy Martin Griffiths in Sweden in November and “come to a solution”.

US-Saudi ties have cooled in recent weeks after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a prominent critic of the conservative kingdom, that has also tarnished the image of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Saudi Arabia and its allies intervened in the conflict between embattled Yemeni President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, whose government is recognised by the UN, and the Houthis in 2015.

Nearly 10,000 people have since been killed and the country now stands at the brink of famine, with more than 22 million Yemenis — three-quarters of the population — in need of humanitarian assistance.

AFP