Yemen’s Hadi wants reconciliation talks moved to Saudi Arabia

ADEN — Yemeni President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi called Tuesday for troubled UN-brokered reconciliation talks to be moved to neighbouring Saudi Arabia if agreement cannot be reached on a venue inside Yemen.

The call came as at least 32 people were killed in clashes between Shiite Houthi gunmen and Sunni tribesmen backed by Al Qaeda militants in central Yemen, tribal source said.

Meanwhile, Al Qaeda branch, which has sought to exploit the power vacuum, claimed on Twitter that it carried out a suicide car bombing of a Houthi gathering in Baida Tuesday "killing and wounding dozens”.

But medics reported that only 10 Houthis were killed and five wounded, which witnesses confirmed.

The reconciliation talks, which had been held in the Shiite militia-held capital, have broken down since Hadi escaped to second city Aden last month after weeks under house arrest.

Several Gulf Cooperation Council states, led by Saudi Arabia, have moved their embassies to Aden after an exodus of foreign diplomats from Sanaa last month over security concerns.

But the United States, the first to close its mission in Sanaa, announced Tuesday that is not planning to follow its Gulf partners and move its embassy to Aden.

The Western-backed president had proposed that the talks resume in Aden or in third city Taez, which is also outside the control of the Houthis.

"As Aden and Taez are not accepted by some, I call for shifting the talks to the headquarters of the GCC in Riyadh," Hadi told tribal chiefs.

He also called for the six-member GCC, which group's impoverished Yemen's oil-rich neighbours, to sponsor the talks, an aide said.

The Houthis, who control much of northern Yemen and have set up their own government institutions in the capital, have opposed any change of venue for the UN-brokered talks.