LONDON: UN envoy Martin Griffiths left Sanaa on Friday after failing to persuade the Houthis to surrender Hodeidah and return to negotiations, Al-Arabiya reported. Griifiths arrived in the capital Sanaa on Wednesday for talks with Houthi militias but failed to persuade them to hand over the strategic Red Sea port city of Hodeidah. The UN envoy had been pushing to relaunch negotiations between Yemen"s internationally recognised government and the Iran-backed Houthi militias for weeks. The envoy"s visit to Sanaa followed meetings in Riyadh on Sunday with Yemeni government officials, who demanded that the Houthis release all detainees. Hodeidah"s port is the entry point for some 70 percent of imports in a country where eight million people face imminent famine. The Red Sea port has been controlled by the rebels since 2014, when they drove the government out of the capital Sanaa and much of the country. The government and the Saudi-led coalition fighting the Houthis accuse the Iran-backed rebels of receiving smuggled weapons through Hodeidah and have demanded their unconditional withdrawal from the city.