UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says negotiations are the only way to prevent the escalation of the conflict in Yemen, as a Saudi-led military campaign has been wreaking havoc in the country.

“Negotiations -- facilitated by my Special Envoy Jamal Benomar and endorsed by the Security Council -- remain the only chance to prevent long, drawn-out conflict,” Ban said on Saturday.

The UN chief, who was addressing the opening session of the Arab League summit in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh, urged all parties in Yemen to try to resolve the crisis peacefully, adding, “It is my fervent hope that at this Arab League summit, leaders will lay down clear guidelines to peacefully resolve the crisis in Yemen.”

Ban, however, made no mention of the illegal military strikes by Saudi Arabia and some of its allies against Yemen.

On March 26, the Al Saud regime unleashed deadly air raids against Yemen’s Houthi Ansarullah movement in an attempt to restore power to fugitive Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, a close ally of Riyadh.

The UN has so far failed to show any reaction to the Saudi violation of Yemen’s sovereignty.

Yemen’s fugitive President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi (R) is welcomed by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi upon arrival in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, March 27, 2015. Hadi stepped down in January and refused to reconsider the decision despite calls by Ansarullah revolutionaries, but the Yemeni parliament did not approve his resignation.

Gradually, as the Yemeni government failed to provide security and properly run the affairs of the country, the Ansarullah fighters started to take control of state matters to contain corruption and terror.

The Ansarullah fighters took control of the Yemeni capital in September 2014 and are currently moving southward.

The fugitive president fled Aden to the Saudi capital city of Riyadh after Ansarullah revolutionaries advanced toward Aden, where he had sought to set up a rival power base and withdrew his resignation.

The Houthis, however, say Hadi lost his legitimacy as president of the country after he escaped the capital in February.

Yemenis carry the body of a man killed in an airstrike by Saudi warplanes at a mosque in the capital, Sana'a, Yemen, March 20, 2015. ©APBan’s comments came as efforts by his envoy to Yemen have failed to create a settlement between conflicting political factions in Yemen. Benomar launched rounds of negotiations between the sides over the past months but failed to convince them to reach a solution.

The Moroccan diplomat warned last Sunday that events in Yemen are leading the Arab country away from a political settlement with the risk of a civil war looming large over the impoverished country.

By Press TV