Delegates fly in for Yemen peace talks as UN seeks ceasefire to allow aid into war-torn city

DELEGATIONS from both sides of Yemen’s civil war have arrived in Sweden for peace talks, with the United Nations hoping they can agree on a truce to allow desperately needed food aid into the strategic port of Hodeidah.

A 12-member team from Yemen’s Saudi-backed government, headed by foreign minister Khaled al-yamani, left Riyadh early yesterday, a day after rebel delegates landed in Stockholm accompanied by the UN peace envoy.

Martin Griffiths, the British UN envoy to Yemen, said it was an encouraging sign that both sides had turned up. Last time talks were convened, in September, Yemen’s Houthi rebel group did not show up.

“The peace talks are a glimmer of hope we haven’t seen in a long, long time in this war,” Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ permanent observer to the UN and the head of delegation in New York, told The Daily Telegraph.

“We have to hope this leads to a meaningful political process, as this is the only way to reverse – in a sustainable way – the dire humanitarian trend that is playing out in Yemen,” he said. However, there are few incentives for major compromises. One of the thorniest proposals the UN will make is for the rebels to hand Hodeidah, which handles 80 per cent of all food imports and aid, over to UN administration.

Analysts said it was unlikely the Houthis would agree to withdraw from territory or lay down arms in the Red Sea city, which was a hard-fought prize.

And exiled President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi’s administration is thought to be equally unlikely to allow a power-sharing deal that would grant Houthis a larger role in government.

“I don’t expect much from this round,” said Baligh al-makhlafy, a Yemeni pro-government analyst. “Maybe there’ll be some more exchange of prisoners or some progress on the economy, but I don’t think the Houthis will leave Hodeidah peacefully. “I’ve been many times to Yemen and each time the situation has deteriorated.

“It was heartbreaking the last time to see people going through the garbage to find food. What little money families have they have to use for fuel, generators, water and medicine for the children. There needs to be immediate commercial and humanitarian imports of food as well as medicines, or 2019 will be a catastrophic year,” he warned.