UN head expected in Sweden to participate in Yemen talks

Antonio Guterres will discuss ways of ending the war

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will arrive in Sweden for peace talks on Wednesday. EPA

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is expected to attend peace talks between Yemen's warring sides in Sweden on Thursday.

Mr Guterres will meet both parties in rural town Rimbo, north of Stockholm, to discuss ways of ending the Yemeni crisis, sources close to the government delegation told The National on Tuesday evening.

The international organisation has brought together the two sides for the first time since 2016.

_______________

Read more:

Yemen government and Houthi rebels exchange lists ahead of planned prisoner swap

Beyond the Headlines podcast: Yemenis continue to suffer as warring sides negotiate

_______________

The development comes as UN-led talks entered their sixth day on Tuesday. The consultations have so far sidestepped discussions on a political transition, focusing instead on a prisoner swap, the reopening of Sanaa airport and securing UN administration of strategic Red Sea port Hodeidah.

Last week, Mr Guterres called on the Yemeni government and rebels to de-escalate violence around the city of Hodeidah, through which 90 per cent of food imports and three quarters of humanitarian aid reach Yemen, where the UN says close to 75 per cent of the population will need humanitarian assistance in 2019.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths told reporters on Monday that “tangible agreements will be announced by the end of this round”.

So far, Mr Griffiths and his team of experts have shuttled between the two parties.

Representatives from the Yemeni government delegation, right, and the Houthi rebels, pose for a photo with negotiators. AFP

Consultations are expected to last until Thursday, with both sides under pressure to agree on confidence-building measures that will allow formal peace negotiations to resume.

Another round of talks between Yemen’s two sides is expected to resume again in early 2019, according to UN sources.

The war has claimed more than 10,000 lives since 2015, when Saudi Arabia and its allies, including the UAE, joined the government's battle against the Iranian-backed rebels.

_______________

Read more: Accounts of prison torture forces Houthi leader to investigate

Medic Farouk Baakar demonstrates how he was shackled to a wall during his torture in a prison run by Yemen’s Houthi rebels. All photos by Nariman El-Mofty / AP Photo

Monir Al Sharqi disappeared for a year and some in his family and other activists believe he was detained and tortured by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, who finally doused him with acid and dumped him in a stream. All photos by Nariman El-Mofty / AP Photo

Anas Al Sarrari recalled how after 60 days of being hung by his wrists from the ceiling and being beaten in a prison, he was thrown into a cell and discovered his legs no longer worked.

Mahmoud Al Ghabri, a journalist, arrested by Houthi militiamen on December 22 2015 and held for three days, during which his captors beat him, burned him with cigarettes and dripped melted plastic over his body.

The mother, right, and wife of of a Yemeni detainee who has been held for months in Houthi prison, pose for a photograph.

Mohammed al-Washie, a journalist, was detained in October 2015 and during torture, his captors broke his leg.

The 24-year-old student was beaten and hung from a ceiling by his handcuffed wrists.