Yemen peace talks due to begin in Sweden
RIMBO:
Peace talks between the Yemeni government and rebels, aimed at ending four years of war that has pushed 14 million people to the brink of famine, were due to open in Sweden.
The UN-brokered talks in Rimbo between Yemen’s Saudi- backed government and the Houthi rebels, linked to Riyadh’s arch-rival Iran, will be the first since 2016 when more than 100 days of negotiations failed to end a war that has now claimed at least 10,000 lives.
Analysts and diplomats said they did not expect a breakthrough at the summit.
UN sources say the organisation aims for “confidence-building” between the two parties, at war since the rebels staged a takeover of Yemeni territory in 2014.
The conflict has triggered what the UN calls the world’s worst humanitarian crisis – with children dying of hunger, disease and war, recruited as soldiers or bartered as child brides every day.
Sources close to the rebels say the Houthis are expected to request the reopening of Sanaa International Airport, which has been damaged by Saudi-led air raids and shut down by Riyadh and its allies, who control Yemen’s airspace.
A source in the government delegation said President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi’s camp is seeking maps detailing landmines planted by the rebels.
Sources on both sides said they would demand a ceasefire – initiated by their rival – and the opening of humanitarian corridors.
No end date has yet been set for the talks, slated to take place at the Johannesberg Castle – a large estate, with a golf course, 60km north of Stockholm. —