Two parties quit resumed Yemen crisis talks citing Houthi threats

SANAA (Reuters) - Two parties walked out of resumed talks on Yemen's political crisis on Monday after saying they had received threats from the country's dominant Houthi movement. Yemen's years-long political crisis risks escalating into a full-blown civil war pitting regional, political, tribal and sectarian rivals against each other in a nation that shares a long border with top global oil exporter Saudi Arabia. Western countries also fear that further chaos in Yemen could give more space to a branch of al Qaeda based there, which has attempted to launch attacks on international airliners. Islah, a big opposition party that merges Islamist and tribal interests, and the smaller Nasserist Organisation, quit Monday's first round of talks saying they had been threatened by a Houthi representative at the negotiations, Mehdi al-Meshaat. "He (Meshaat) wanted to impose the choices of the group by force," said Nasserite Organisation secretary general Abdullah al-Noman. The Shi'ite Houthis seized control of the Yemeni capital Sanaa last September after a decade-long rebellion and overran the homes of top officials last month, leading former president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and his government to resign. Last Friday the Houthi group, headed by Abdel-Malik al Houthi, said it would impose a new "presidential council" on Yemen in a unilateral declaration that was initially rejected by most other factions in the country. [ID:nL6N0VG3J9] However, on Sunday the United Nations envoy Jamal Benomar said new talks between the Houthis and other parties to resolve the crisis would take place. (Reporting By Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Angus McDowall; Editing by Gareth Jones)