File Photo: The United Nations logo is seen on a window in an empty hallway at UN headquarters in New York. (REUTERS/Mike Segar)
CAIRO: The United Nations says Yemen’s warring parties agreed on Tuesday to renew an existing truce for another two months after international concerted efforts.
The U.N.'s envoy to Yemen Hans Grundberg said in a statement that Yemen’s internationally recognized government and the country’s Houthi rebels agreed to extend the truce.
The statement said that both sides of the conflict had also agreed to try to arrive at "an expanded truce agreement as soon as possible.”
The renewal announcement came hours after an Omani delegation concluded three-day talks with the Houthi leadership, including with the rebels’ chief Abdel-Malek al-Houthi in the capital of Sanaa.
Mohammed Abdel-Salam, the Houthi chief negotiator and spokesman, said on Twitter the talks focused on "consolidating chances of halting the war and lifting the blockade” imposed by the Saudi-led coalition.
The ceasefire initially took effect on April 2 and was extended on June 2, despite both sides traded accusations of violating the truce and the failure to lift a yearslong blockade of the city of Taiz by the Houthis.
On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Rashad al-Alimi, head of the presidential government to press for the truce renewal. He said the ceasefire "provides the best opportunity for peace in years - we must not let it slip away.”
