The Houthi Rebels said, Wednesday, that the US is preventing the implementation of Yemen’s peace roadmap, emphasizing that Washington supports a “peace that does not lead to internal wars”, Anadolu Agency reports.

The comments were made on the X by Houthi political office member, Hussein Al-Azzi, and statements by Houthi Foreign Minister of the unrecognised government, Jamal Amer, during a meeting with UN Special Envoy to Yemen, Hans Grundberg, in the nation’s capital of Sana’a.

Upon his arrival Monday in Sana’a, Grundberg encouraged the Houthis to take “concrete and essential actions for advancing the peace process,” during his first visit to the city in more than a year and a half.

In response, Al-Azzi stated that “America is the one preventing other parties (the legitimate Yemeni government) from implementing the roadmap and insists on linking their commitments to the issue of Israel.”

“Using this visit (Grundberg’s visit to Sana’a) to cover up the other party’s failure to follow the roadmap and to whitewash their pages filled with hostile military and intelligence actions, while portraying it as if the ball is in Sana’a’s court, is unfortunate and unacceptable,” the Houthi leader added without providing details.

Washington has not responded to Al-Azzi’s accusations, but the US previously reaffirmed its commitment to achieving peace in Yemen.

Amer said that “Sana’a’s strategic option is for a just and lasting peace that does not lay the foundation for internal wars,” according to the Houthi-run Saba News Agency. “Sana’a maintains unity in its stance and objectives, while the other side (the legitimate government) is divided in its orientations, affiliations and loyalties to foreign powers.”

He reiterated the Houthi government’s readiness to sign the first phase of the peace roadmap.

Grundberg announced in a statement Sunday that he held talks with Omani officials in Muscat on developments in the Yemeni crisis.

Grundberg’s visits to Muscat and Sana’a come amid ongoing clashes in the Taiz governorate in south-west Yemen between government forces and the Houthi group, threatening the end of a two-year lull in military activity across Yemen.

The UN envoy said 23 December that the Yemeni government and the Houthis had committed to a set of measures under the “roadmap” including a comprehensive ceasefire and improved living conditions for citizens.

The roadmap has yet to be implemented, with the government and the Houthis accusing each other of hindering progress.