Warring parties dig in as Yemeni peace talks falter

The end of peace talks on 6 August followed an announcement in late July by Houthi rebels and former president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC) that they planned to form a new governing council for Sanaa. A large demonstration in the capital on 20 August suggested there was some popular support for the move. Others, however, saw it as an escalation. A statement from the Group of 18 (G18) on the same day said the search for peace was made “more difficult by unconstitutional and unilateral actions in Sanaa”.