Yemen foes head to peace talks as 'ugly war' rages
Yemen's warring parties meet in Geneva tomorrow for a new round of peace talks with little hope of a breakthrough in an "ugly war" between the Saudi-backed government and rebels linked to Iran.
They are the first public meetings between the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Yemen's powerful Huthi rebels since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to broker a power-sharing deal.
But the chance of face-to-face sitdowns between Hadi's delegation and the rebels in Geneva are slim to none, Yemeni foreign minister Khaled al-Yamani told AFP.
And while the two sides are backed by rival regional powers, their respective patrons will not be present in Geneva.
The talks, overseen by United Nations envoy Martin Griffiths, are aimed at charting a path towards reviving formal UN-backed negotiations.
They will likely focus on a prisoner exchange deal and the fate of embattled Hodeida, the rebel-held port city at the frontline of the war.
Hanging in the balance is the fate of 22 million civilians, in a country where famine looms and a cholera epidemic is threatening a comeback.
"This war has been and remains an ugly war," said UAE minister of state for foreign affairs Anwar Gargash, whose country is the senior partner in the Saudi-led coalition backing Hadi's government.
"We have seen civilians shot at, bombed, killed and unfortunately... this is part of any confrontation."
Last month alone saw 66 children killed in air raids believed to have been conducted by the Saudi-led coalition.
Both camps have been accused by the UN and rights groups of failing to protect civilians.
Last month, UN-backed experts said all the warring parties have committed a "substantial number of violations of international humanitarian law", many potentially amounting to war crimes.
Diplomats and Yemeni officials have set a low bar for the Geneva meetings, the first attempt by Griffiths to bring the warring parties together.
One US diplomat described them as "low key" with "low expectations".
They "are really not intended to be talks or negotiations but consultations that demonstrate the capability of the UN to bring the sides together," along with "confidence building measures", the diplomat said.
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