[JURIST] The president of Yemen on Sunday backed out of talks arranged by the United Nations (UN) [official website] with Shiite rebels. It was announced [AP report] by his office that there would be no talks until the rebels accept a UN resolution that would require them to remove themselves from areas they’ve invaded and return all weapons taken from state institutions. President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi [Aljazeera profile], who although exiled himself from the country, is still internationally recognized as the country’s president. Hadi decided he will not participate in the talks amidst his government’s plans to return to the city of Aden at the end of the month, after the Muslim Eid al-Adha holiday. Over 200 troops from Saudi Arabia, Emirati and Yemen have been sent to Aden over the past two weeks to help secure the area and move the rebels, known as Houthis, out of the city in preparation for the return of Hadi’s government.

The rapidly deteriorating situation in Yemen [BBC backgrounder] has sparked significant international concern. Last month the fighting in Yemen between Huthi militias and anti-Huthi armed groups indiscriminately killed and wounded civilians with unlawful airstrikes in civilian neighborhoods, according to a report [JURIST report] issued by Amnesty International (AI). In June the UN arranged for a Yemen peace talk [JURIST report] in Geneva, in which the Yemeni president sent a delegation. In April Human Rights Watch condemned the targeting [JURIST report] of the Ibn Khaldun Hospital in Yemen by combatants. Also that month, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein urged Yemeni combatants [JURIST report] to report attacks resulting in civilian casualties so that they can be investigated and international human rights law can be upheld.