UN Yemen envoy meets Hadi in 'message of respect'

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

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, the official said.

The UN envoy 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 during their first meeting.

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.

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

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

Houthis dine in Beijing

Meanwhile, a delegation of Yemen’s Houthi rebels travelled to China on Thursday to discuss stability in the country.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry hosted a dinner in honour of the delegation, which included Hamza al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi delegation at recent peace talks in Geneva; Mahdi al-Mashat, a party representative and Mohammad Abd al-Salam, a spokesperson for the rebel group.

China is increasingly looking to the Middle East as an important hub for its mega-investment project in international infrastructure – the so-called "Silk Road Economic Belt".

China is a large exporter of weapons to the Gulf, especially for weaponised drones.

More than 10,000 people have been killed since Yemen's conflict escalated after the Saudi-led military coalition intervened in March 2015 to support Hadi’s government.

The conflict forced more than 3 million to flee the violence and left civilians in the region’s most impoverished nation struggling to survive.