Low hopes for Yemen factions’ talks

– Yemen’s warring parties will not meet face-to-face at UN-brokered peace talks in Geneva this week which will likely focus on a prisoner exchange deal, government officials said yesterday.

The United Nations has invited Yemen’s government and the Iranbacked Houthi rebels to Geneva for talks which open on Thursday. Both parties have confirmed they are sending high-level delegations to the talks, but officials say ex- pectations of a breakthrough are low.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths has said the talks are aimed at charting a path forward to revive UNbacked negotiations which broke down in 2016.

The Yemeni government says the talks will likely focus on a prisoner exchange deal and the fate of embattled Hodeida, the rebel-held port city that is now the frontline of the Yemen war.

Yemen’s Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani said: “Our expectations are limited to the possibility of progress in the question of prisoners and detainees.”

The UN has likewise set a low bar for the talks. “The aim of this first round of consultations is to better understand how committed both parties are to the framework for formal negotiations ... and to come to some conclusions about how those negotiations may start,” said UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric. –