The United Nations has invited Yemen’s warring sides to Geneva next month for talks on resolving the country’s civil war, a spokeswoman said Friday.

“I can confirm that the Office of the Special Envoy sent out invitations” to Saudi-backed exiled government and revolutionary group, Ansarullah, UN spokeswoman Alessandra Vellucci told reporters.

The UN’s Yemen envoy Martin Griffiths has said the talks due to open on September 6 will be aimed at charting a path forward to revive UN-backed negotiations which broke down in 2016.

Vellucci said she had no information on whether representatives from Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had also been invited to Geneva.

Yemen has been since March 2015 under brutal aggression by Saudi-led Coalition, in a bid to restore control to fugitive president Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi who is Riyadh’s ally.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed and injured in the strikes launched by the coalition, with the vast majority of them are civilians.

The coalition, which includes in addition to Saudi Arabia and UAE: Bahrain, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Sudan and Kuwait, has been also imposing a harsh blockade against Yemenis.

Source: AFP