Saudi, UAE in rare talks with Yemen Islamist party

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have held rare talks with Yemen’s Al-Islah party, ignoring its close links with the Muslim Brotherhood as they review strategy against Shiite rebels. Both countries have outlawed the Brotherhood as a terrorist group and the UAE even sponsored rival Sunni Islamist groups in Yemen. But after the failure of an attempted uprising early this month against the rebels by their erstwhile ally former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the two governments have been forced to review strategy in their nearly three-year-old military intervention. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and his Abu Dhabi counterpart Mohammed bin Zayed received the Islamist party’s chairman and secretary general in Riyadh late on Wednesday, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. It was an opportunity to “review the situation in Yemen and efforts to restore security and stability for the Yemeni people,” SPA said.