Saudi, UAE talk cooperation after Yemen rebel truce offer

ABU DHABI: Top officials from Saudi Arabia and the UAE, key players in a coalition fighting Yemeni rebels, have discussed military cooperation following a positive response by Riyadh to a truce offer from the insurgents. Saudi´s deputy defence minister Prince Khalid bin Salman met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan in the UAE capital to discuss “coordination and joint action in defence and military affairs”, Emirati state news agency WAM reported on Monday. The two officials, who spoke late Sunday, also discussed the “challenges” facing the Gulf region and “their implications on the security” of the region, WAM said. Last week, Prince Khalid said on Twitter that a truce offer made last month by Yemen´s Huthi rebels was “perceived positively” by the kingdom and hoped it would be “implemented effectively”.

Yemen govt, separatists in power-sharing talks: Yemen´s internationally recognised government and southern separatists are holding indirect negotiations and are close to reaching a power-sharing agreement, sources from both sides said. The two camps have been for weeks in indirect and discreet talks in Saudi Arabia´s western city of Jeddah with the kingdom´s mediation, an official from the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) told AFP. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there has been “a lot of progress” in the past couple of days. A Yemeni government source confirmed that talks between the two parties have been ongoing. In August, fighting between the two camps — both of which are battling Yemen´s Iran-backed Huthi rebels — opened a new front in the country´s complex war.