UN plane evacuates wounded Houthi rebels

Fifty wounded rebels were evacuated from the Yemeni capital for medical treatment Monday after the Coalition for Supporting Legitimacy in Yemen allowed them to be taken to Muscat, as the UN envoy landed in Sanaa ahead of planned peace talks in Sweden.

The evacuation on a UN chartered plane marks a key step in kickstarting stalled negotiations.

Coalition spokesman Turki Al-Maliki said a UN chartered flight would evacuate 50 wounded combatants, accompanied by three Yemeni doctors and a UN doctor from Sanaa to the Omani capital.

Wounded militants were transported across the capital in ambulances as they made their way to the long-defunct Sanaa International Airport on Monday.

Inside the airport departure hall, other wounded rebels — some in suits and wheelchairs — lined up awaiting their evacuation to Muscat.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths landed in Sanaa on Monday for talks with rebels ahead of yet



another attempt to bring them to the negotiating table.

Yemen’s Information Minister Moammer Al-Eryani said the government had agreed to the Sweden talks as a first step toward “facilitating negotiations” and to end “all excuses invoked by the coupists (rebels) to evade finding peace.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, however, has played down the early December schedule and said he hoped talks would start “this year”.

Al-Maliki said in a press conference on Monday that the Hodeida port has been clear of ships for the past three days as a result of Houthi militias denying them entry.

He said 14 permits have been issued for ships heading to Yemeni ports.

Maliki also said that the Coalition has saved 102 children recruited by Houthi militias and rehabilitated them.

The Arab Coalition is participating in the fight against Al-Qaeda and Daesh in Yemen, he added.