Houthi rebels accuse UN envoy of 'prolonging' Yemen war

The rebels accused Griffiths of losing neutrality and siding with the Saudi-led coalition, which has been engaged in a stalled battle with the Houthis since March 2015.

"From his recent speech, it has become clear that the UN envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths has broken away from neutrality and fairness that his mission requires," rebel spokesperson Mohamed Abdel Salam tweeted.

"Griffiths became involved with the forces of aggression against Yemen, adopting their position completely," he said, in reference to the Saudi-led coalition.

The UN envoy has yet to respond to the accusations but has on multiple occasions assured all warring factions that the UN is working impartially to achieve a peaceful, political solution to the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

Earlier this month, the rebels refused to meet Griffiths in the Omani capital Muscat after he participated in a number of talks with Yemeni and Saudi government officials in the kingdom’s capital, Riyadh.

Yemen has been locked in conflict since the Houthis took control of Sanaa in 2014 and went on to seize much of the north.

The crisis escalated when the Saudi-led coalition intervened the following year to support Yemen's internationally-recognised government against the rebels.

More than 100,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed and millions displaced in what the United Nations has called the world's worst humanitarian disaster.

UN experts have accused both sides in Yemen's five-year-old conflict of multiple war crimes.

Yemen is the Arab world's poorest country, already devastated by conflict and malnutrition, and also faces the coronavirus pandemic that its decrepit health system is ill-equipped to handle.

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