UN envoy Martin Griffiths said Monday (July 15th) he held "productive" talks with the Saudi deputy defence minister aimed at bolstering a ceasefire agreement for Yemen, AFP reported.
"We discussed how to keep Yemen out of the regional tensions, make progress in the implementation of the Stockholm agreement (and Saudi Arabia's) support to the peace process," Griffiths wrote on Twitter.
The meeting with Prince Khalid bin Salman came as representatives from Yemen's government and the Iran-backed Houthis (Ansarallah) held talks on a UN vessel off the Yemeni coast to try to de-escalate tensions.
The hard-won truce agreement reached late last year in Sweden called on the Yemeni government and the Houthis to pull forces out of the key port of al-Hodeidah and parts of the city.
On Monday, at the end of two days of talks, their first since February, a committee set up under the Sweden accord -- also known as the Stockholm agreement -- said it had agreed on "a mechanism and new measures to reinforce the ceasefire".
The mechanism would be put in place as soon as possible with support from the UN which is part of the committee along with representatives of the Yemeni government and the Houthis, a statement said.
