SANAA, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Houthi group demanded the Yemeni government pay for the salaries of the government employees living in Houthi-controlled areas, stressing the request is a premise for renewing the current truce.
According to a statement posted on the Houthi website on Thursday evening, Mahdi al-Mashat, chairman of Houthi's political council, put forward the request when meeting with UN Special Envoy for Yemen Hans Grundberg, who left Sanaa on Thursday afternoon without holding a press conference.
Grundberg arrived in the Houthi-controlled capital on Wednesday to discuss with the Houthi leaders the renewal of the ongoing truce between the Houthis and the internationally-recognized Yemeni government, which will expire on Oct. 2.
"Paying the salaries of all state employees and the pensions of retired people is a basic demand for the Yemeni people. If this demand is not achieved, we will not accept the truce renewal," al-Mashat was quoted in the statement as telling the UN envoy Grundberg.
Thousands of civil servants in the Houthi-controlled cities have not been paid for over seven years.
The Yemeni government has not commented yet on the Houthi new demand.
Grundberg's visit to Sanaa came three days after meeting with Rashad Al-Alimi, president of Yemen's Presidential Leadership Council, and top officials of his government in the Saudi capital Riyadh, where they welcomed the UN efforts to extend and expand the ongoing truce.
Grundberg on Tuesday warned that the war will return to Yemen if the truce renewal efforts collapsed.
The truce between the Yemeni government and the Houthi militia went into force for the first time on April 2. It was later renewed twice through Oct. 2.
Yemen has been mired in a civil war since late 2014 when the Iran-backed Houthi militia seized control of several northern cities and forced the Saudi-backed Yemeni government out of the capital Sanaa. ■
