UN special envoy Martin Griffiths on Wednesday said that discussions in Geneva were a chance to build confidence through a broad process that will serve as the first step towards peace negotiations in Yemen.

Iran Press: UN special envoy Martin Griffiths on Wednesday said that discussions in Geneva were a chance to build confidence through a broad process that will serve as the first step towards peace negotiations in war-torn Yemen.

The talks, initially scheduled to begin on Thursday, have been pushed back to Friday morning in the Palais de Nations. The UN didn't specify the reasons for the delay.

Speaking in a room packed with reporters, Mr Griffiths said he hoped to see the two sides in the same room, but that it would not be a necessity.

Diplomacy and confidence building is essential to send a signal of hope to the Yemeni people, he said, setting a determined tone ahead of the first talks in two years.

"It has been a process in Yemen, this is an opportunity for that page to be turned. We are talking about consultations, this is not a negotiation. This a process. We want to understand the issues of both parties," Mr Griffiths said firmly.

"This is a Yemeni [to] Yemeni discussion, it’s not for other countries to determine," he said.

The UN envoy reiterated that there could not be a military solution to the conflict in Yemen and stressed instead the importance of diplomacy, even if a substantial deal must be struck at a later date.

"Diplomacy is essential to the talks, it’s a combination of diplomacy and negotiation," Mr Griffiths said.

Both sides have said they will release political prisoners and “have stressed the need to agree on a way to do this together”.

Talks with the Yemeni government was about to start last night . However the bulk of the negotiations will not start until Friday, by which time the Houthi delegation is expected to have arrived in Geneva.

The two factions were due to be in Geneva on Wednesday ahead of the talks the next day. So far only the Yemeni government delegation has arrived.

Mr Griffiths stressed the Houthis wanted to attend the talks and that he would make sure they did, adding that the Omanis were also intervening to guarantee their arrival in Geneva.

However on Wednesday the Houthi media channel, Al Masirah, said their contingent had yet to leave Sanaa due to delays.

Sources in Sanaa told The National that the Houthis had made last-minute demands, including a change of aircraft and to allow non-delegation members to travel without inspection.

"We are working at it, I think this issue will sort itself out. Yemen talks have always had a delayed start, we are going to make it happen," Mr Griffiths said hesitantly, adding that the UN, Oman and others were working to ensure the arrival of the Houthi delegation.

The meeting will be the first UN-led peace talks in two years, although chances of anything more than an agreement to further talks are slim.

Mr Griffiths will act as the intermediary between the two sides .

However both the government and the Houthis  have said they expect no breakthrough at the talks.

Yemen's delegation is led by Foreign Minister Khaled Al Yamani who arrived in Geneva on Wednesday afternoon. Human Rights Minister Mohamed Askar is also attending the talks.

Meanwhile The Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, "urgently renewed his call for a negotiated political settlement through inclusive intra-Yemeni dialogue."

Saudi Arabia and its allies launched the war on Yemen in March 2015 to reinstall the former Saudi-backed Hadi regime and crush the Houthi movement.

The Yemeni Ministry of Human Rights announced in a statement on March 25 that the war had left 600,000 civilians dead and injured until then. The war and an accompanying blockade have also caused famine across Yemen.

According to the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC) report, 683 children were killed or injured by the Saudi-Arabia led coalition in 2016.

Amnesty International confirmed the use of a US-manufactured bomb by the Saudi-Arabia led coalition in an August attack

Scores of demonstrators took to the streets of the northwestern city of Sa'ada on Wednesday Sep 5, 2018 , decrying Saudi Arabia-led coalition’s grave violations of international law including recent air attack in August that killed dozens of people.

They also rejected an offer by the Saudi-led coalition to pay compensations for victims of an air strike in Saada.

Meanwhile, a military source said that the snipping unit of the army and popular committees gun down 5 Saudi soldiers and 10 of Saudi army’s mercenaries during the past days in different positions in Jizan.

The Saudi air raid hit the school bus as it drove through a market in the town of Dhahyan, killing a total of 51 people, among them 40 children, and injuring 79 others, mostly kids. The kids reportedly had been on a much-anticipated field trip marking their graduation from summer school.

The tragedy sent shockwaves across the globe, with the international community condemning what has been dubbed "the single biggest attack on children" since the conflict erupted in 2015.

UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore called the attack on children "unconscionable" and said that it "should be a turning point in Yemen's brutal war,"

Furthermore ,on Aug 25,2018  , The U.N. humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock condemned massacre of civilians by Saudi-led coalition  in two major airstrikes in Yemen.

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