Prisoner swap deal adds to hopes for downplayed Yemen talks

RIMBO, Sweden — Yemen’s warring sides agreed to a broad prisoner swap Thursday, sitting down in the same room together for the first time in years at UN-sponsored peace talks in Sweden aimed at halting a catastrophic war that has brought the country to the brink of famine.

Hopes were high that talks wouldn’t deteriorate into further violence as in the past and that the prisoner exchange would be an important first step toward building confidence between highly distrustful adversaries.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths said the two sides have signalled they are serious about deescalating the fighting through calls they’ve made in recent weeks and urged them to work to further reduce the violence in the Arab world’s poorest nation, scene of massive civilian suffering.