DUBAI (Reuters) – The United States’ new special envoy to Yemen, Tim Lenderking, met Yemen’s internationally-recognised president and his foreign minister in Riyadh on Thursday, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity by the Biden administration aimed at ending the war.
“Our primary objective is to bring the parties together in coordination with U.N. Special Envoy [Martin] Griffiths for a negotiated settlement that will end the war and the suffering of the Yemeni people,” the U.S. embassy to Yemen reported of Lenderking’s comments to Yemen’s foreign minister.
U.S. President Joe Biden last week named veteran U.S. diplomat Lenderking as a U.S. special envoy to Yemen. Washington also announced an end to its support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia leads a coalition which intervened in Yemen in 2015, backing government forces fighting the Iran-aligned Houthi group. U.N. officials are trying to revive peace talks to end the war, which the U.N. says has created the world’s largest humanitarian crisis.
(Reporting by Lisa Barrington; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
