The meetings come as UN-mediated peace talks to bring an end to the war in Yemen were suspended earlier this month.
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Saudi Arabia, a key US ally, has come under stiff criticism from rights groups for air strikes that have repeatedly killed civilians in Yemen.
GENEVA-The UN human rights chief on Thursday called for an worldwide investigation of rights abuses and violence in Yemen’s civil war, which has killed thousands of people, as he insisted that a domestic panel set up to look into violations has not been up to the task. “It has to stop”, Kerry told reporters in a press conference in Jiddah.
Kerry said Washington was “deeply troubled” by rebel attacks on Saudi territory, where more than 100 soldiers and civilians have been killed in cross-border bombardments and skirmishes.
Saudi-led coalition air strikes were suspected of causing around half of all civilian deaths, while attacks by rebel-affiliated groups were blamed for around a quarter of deaths, it said.
During the meeting, attended by King’s Special Envoy to Saudi Arabia Bassem Awadallah and Minister of State for Media Affairs Mohammad Momani, Mulki highlighted the depth of the historic relations, nourished by His Majesty King Abdullah and Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
“We demand the rebels to break the siege of Yemeni cities and allow introduction of assistance to the needy, in Yemen”, Al-Jubeir said, expressing hope that there will be a response to the will of the worldwide community in resolving the crisis in Yemen, and calling on all Yemeni parties to peacefully respond to the United Nations envoy and to work with him to bring Yemen out of the current crisis and to focus instead on rebuilding it”, he said.
After his meeting with the Saudi monarch, Mr Kerry wrote on Twitter that they discussed the “need to reach a political solution (and) address the humanitarian crisis in Yemen”, as well as the war in Syria and the fight against IS.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in the Gulf belong to a US-led military alliance battling the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group which has seized large parts of Syria and Iraq. Oman is the only country of the six-nation GCC that is not part of the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen.
“The goal of our meetings was, quite simply, to see if together we could find a way to end the violence of Yemen, to end the war, and to address the deeply troubling situation there”, Mr Kerry told reporters before leaving Jiddah.
He said participants “agreed on a renewed approach to negotiations” between the Saudi-backed government and Iran-supported Shiite rebels, after three months of talks in Kuwait ended earlier in August without headway.
Saudi Arabia’s powerful Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will discuss the kingdom’s drive to cut its reliance on oil exports in visits to China and Japan that begin next week, Saudi media and sources said on Wednesday.
“It isn’t just about casualties, but really about a devastating humanitarian crisis that is threatening people’s access to food and health care”, she said.
Saudi and Japanese officials had discussed in June possible Japanese investments into the planned initial public offering (IPO) of Aramco.
Mr Kerry is scheduled to travel to Geneva next, where he will meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
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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.
