‘Milestone’ peace talks on Yemen are opened

Representatives from Yemen’s warring sides sat in the same room for the first time in years in Sweden yesterday as Un-sponsored peace talks aimed at halting a catastrophic three-year war opened to great hopes, but also high scepticism.

In a positive sign, the UN envoy said the sides had agreed on a prisoner exchange as a first step toward building confidence.

Martin Griffiths also said the two sides had signalled they were serious about de-escalating the fighting through calls they had made in recent weeks and urged them to work to further reduce the violence in the Arab world’s poorest nation.

The talks in the Swedish town of Rimbo, north of Stockholm, aim to setup “a framework for negotiations” on a future peace agreement. Mr Griffiths called the coming days a milestone nonetheless and urged the parties “to work in good faith”.

The fighting in Yemen has generated the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.