Sana’a: The UN-brokered Yemen peace talks will not resume unless Al Houthi rebels acknowledge the legitimacy of the country’s internationally-recognised president and abide by the UN resolutions, government officials said on Friday.

The officials, one a cabinet member and the second a presidential aide, said that Yemen’s President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi had made the demands clear in a meeting with UN envoy to Yemen Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad on Friday in Riyadh.

Hadi, officials said, stressed that his delegation will not meet with the rebels – who have controlled Sana’a since 2014 – unless these two demands are met.

Talks were due to start on Friday. A rebel delegation had arrived in Kuwait, which hosted the first round of talks in April.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press.

Rebel spokesman Mohammad Abdul Salam reacted by saying, “We know that the other party doesn’t want a political solution, nor a peaceful solution.”

Yemeni state TV reported only that President Hadi met with Ould Shaikh Ahmad in Riyadh and discussed the talks, without elaboration.

Earlier in the day, the UN said the peace talks were expected to resume later on Friday or Saturday despite a threat by the government to boycott the negotiations.

Ould Shaikh Ahmad “will leave for Kuwait along with the government delegation”, a spokesman for the UN envoy said, adding that the talks were scheduled to resume later in the day “or tomorrow” (Saturday).

The rebel delegation left for Kuwait after a day-long stop in Oman during which they said they met foreign minister Yousuf Bin Alawi.

Since March 2015, the war in Yemen has pitted rebels known as Al Houthis against President Hadi’s government, which is backed by a Saudi-led military coalition. The conflict has left a security vacuum in parts of the country. Both Al Qaida and its rival militant group, Daesh, have exploited the turmoil and expanded in the country’s southern region.

On Friday, a suicide car bomber targeted a convoy with the governor and police chief of the southern port city of Aden but the two survived the assassination attempt unharmed.

Security officials said the attack took place as governor Aidarous Al Zubaidi and security chief Shalal Al Shayaa were en route to the district of Al Buriqa.

The officials said a guard was wounded and noted unconfirmed reports of civilians killed. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to the media.

The two Aden officials have been targeted in the past. Their predecessors were killed in suicide bombings by Daesh.

Photographs circulated on social media showed the bomber’s vehicle on fire.

No group has immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.