(Reuters) – U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking on Wednesday called on the Houthi group to show more flexibility over an extended and expanded truce deal proposed by the United Nations to build on a previous pact that expired on Sunday.
An initial truce first agreed in April had brought the longest stretch of relative calm in the seven-year-old conflict between a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the Iran-aligned Houthis.
Lenderking said in a news briefing that the Houthis, de facto authorities in North Yemen, had “imposed maximalist and impossible demands” over a proposed mechanism to pay public sector wages, but that he was confident agreement could be reached if the group showed flexibility.
(Reporting by Ghaida Ghantous and Aziz El Yaakoubi; Editing by William Maclean)
