UN envoy meets Yemen’s Hadi in new peace bid

ADEN — The UN envoy to Yemen and President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi met Thursday in the southern city of Aden to discuss a new bid to end the country's conflict, a government official said.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who flew in from Riyadh, held several hours of talks with Hadi at the hilltop Al Maashiq palace, where members of his government are also staying, before leaving Aden, the official said.

The UN envoy, after meeting Hadi in Aden for the first time, said the visit was a "message of respect" for the president, in videotaped comments sent to reporters.

The aim of his mission was to "return to dialogue and a peaceful solution", Ould Cheikh Ahmed said, reporting "much positivity" from Hadi.

Aden has been serving as Yemen's temporary capital since pro-Hadi forces with support from a Saudi-led Arab coalition recaptured it from Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels last year.

Hadi, who has been based mostly in Riyadh since Yemen's conflict broke out, flew to Aden last Saturday.

The government-run sabanew.net website said Hadi handed the envoy a letter reiterating the government's rejection of a roadmap presented by Ould Cheikh Ahmed in October, which would see the president eased out of power.

The contents of the peace roadmap have not been made public.

But informed sources say it calls for agreement on naming a new vice president after the rebels withdraw from the capital Sanaa and other cities, and hand over heavy weapons to a third party.

Hadi would then transfer power to the vice president who would appoint a new prime minister to form a government in which the north and south of Yemen would have equal representation.

Late last month, Ould Cheikh Ahmed said he has been preparing “for a new round” of peace talks, after a previous round held in Kuwait collapsed in August.

On a separate front, Aden has been the target of frequent extremist attacks claimed by Al Qaeda or the Daesh terror group which have expanded in Yemen’s south and east.

On Thursday, three Al Qaeda suspects, including a local leader named Abu Jeni Al Suairi, were killed in an apparent US drone strike on their vehicle in the eastern province of Hadramawt, security officials said.

In Shabwa province, further south, suspected Al Qaeda gunmen shot dead a retired intelligence officer, Colonel Salem Yusr, as he was leaving a local market, they said.