Saudi Arabia, Yemen’s Houthi rebels in indirect peace talks

Saudi Arabia and Yemen’s Iran-backed rebels are holding indirect, behind-the-scenes talks to end the impoverished Arab country’s devastating five-year war. Officials from both sides have told The Associated Press that the negotiations are taking place with Oman, which borders both Yemen and Saudi Arabia, as mediator.

The two sides have communicated via video conference over the past two months. That’s according to Gamal Amer, a negotiator for the Yemeni rebels known as Houthis. They have also talked through European intermediaries, according to three Houthi officials. Yemen remains a divided country. The Houthis have controlled the capital, Sanaa, and much of the north since 2014.

The Saudi-led military coalition, which entered the war in 2015, is fighting on behalf of Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi and his internationally recognized government.

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Poorest country in the world

The United Nations said in an official report that if the ongoing civil war in Yemen continues till 2022 then it would become the poorest country in the world. The percentage of poverty in the year 2014 was 47, and it is expected to reach 75 percent by the end of this year due to the war. The United Nations Development Program published a report on September 26 which discussed the current scenario of Yemen. The report quoted the UNDP Administrator, Achim Steiner who said that the war has made Yemen the 'largest humanitarian crisis in the world'.

Yemen is currently among the poorest countries in the Middle-Eastern region and its condition deteriorated even more after the Saudi-led intervention in 2015. The UN report says, "If the fighting continues through 2022, Yemen will rank as the poorest country in the world, with 79 percent of the population living under the poverty line and 65 percent classified as extremely poor". The report further said, "the intensity of poverty has also surged, with Yemen projected by 2022 to have the largest poverty gap—the distance between average income and the poverty line—in the world". As per the UN reports, the war-ravaged country now cannot take a chance to wait and must act quickly.

(With AP inputs)

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