Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has proposed reopening the Houthi-held airport in the capital Sanaa on condition planes are inspected in the airports of Aden or Sayun which are under its control, two government officials said on Friday.
The Houthis rejected the proposal floated at U.N-sponsored peace talks in Sweden that are aimed at cementing confidence-building measures that could lead to a ceasefire to halt air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition and Houthi missile attacks on Saudi cities.
But given this is only the second day of the talks due to last until Dec. 13, and with both sides are coming under mounting pressure for action because of the human toll of the war, there could be room for concessions.
The war has killed tens of thousands of people and spawned what the United Nations calls the world’s direst humanitarian crisis, since the coalition intervened in 2015 to restore a government ousted by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
The warring sides agreed on Thursday to free thousands of prisoners, in what U.N. mediator Martin Griffiths called a hopeful start to the first peace talks in two years to end a war that has pushed millions of people to the verge of starvation.
Griffiths wants a deal on reopening the airport, shoring up the central bank and securing a truce in Hodeidah, the country’s main port, held by the Houthis and a focus of the war after the coalition launched a campaign to capture it this year.
Sanaa airport, which has been bombed several times, is in Houthi territory but access is restricted by the Saudi-led coalition, which controls the air space.
Marwan Dammaj, Yemen’s minister of culture in the internationally recognized government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, told Reuters Sanaa airport should be re-opened to put “an end to the people’s suffering regarding transportation”.
“But it should be a domestic airport from where Yemenis can go to Aden and then leave to international destinations,” added Dammaj, a member of the government delegation.
Hamza Al Kamali, another member of the delegation, said airplanes must stop in airports in the southern city of Aden or Sayun, east of the capital, for inspection before leaving Yemen.