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JEDDAH /Â AFP
US Secretary of State John Kerry was holding talks with his Gulf counterparts and a British minister in Saudi Arabia on Thursday on the conflicts in Yemen, Syria and Libya.
The coordination with Washington’s major Middle East allies came on the eve of Syria talks in Geneva between Kerry and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov. After a 30-minute meeting with Saudi King Salman, Kerry was to focus on the conflict in Yemen with UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, Britain’s Middle East undersecretary Tobias Ellwood, and his Saudi and
United Arab Emirates (UAE) counterparts.
On Yemen, a senior State Department official said, Kerry wants “to share ideas and initiatives for getting the political discussions back on track and trying to get a political solution”.
The aim is also to put in place mechanisms for delivering desperately needed humanitarian aid to the impoverished country neighbouring Saudi Arabia, he said. “It’s not either-or. We want to get humanitarian access better ensured and at the same time we need a ceasefire in place. They go hand in hand but you need a reduction in violence,” the official said.
Riyadh heads an Arab coalition that began air raids in March 2015 and later sent in ground forces to support Yemen’s internationally-recognised government after Iran-backed Shiite Houthi rebels and their allies overran much of the country.
Kerry’s encounter with Salman followed a three-hour meeting overnight with the king’s powerful son, Deputy Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the Gulf belong to a US-led military alliance battling the IS extremist group which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq. The kingdom also backs armed rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Al Assad’s regime.
Libya’s GNA also on agenda –
Kerry was to update regional allies on efforts to end the heavy bloodshed in Syria “because they do have influence” over opposition groups, the State Department official said.
The secretary of state was due to head later Thursday for Geneva to meet Lavrov. Moscow and Washington are on opposite sides of the five-year-old Syria conflict but have a common foe in IS, and they have been in contact on efforts to establish military cooperation against the extremists.