Yemen rivals trade barbs as talks begin

Govt. asks rebels to leave key port city

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom and U.N. envoy to Yemen Martin Griffiths attend the opening press conference on U.N.-sponsored peace talks for Yemen at Johannesberg castle, in Rimbo, Sweden on December 6, 2018.

Yemen’s government and rebels traded mutual accusations on Thursday as they sat down for hard-won talks the UN envoy described as a “critical opportunity”.

The talks in Rimbo, Sweden — a picturesque village some 60 km north of Stockholm — have been months in the making, the first time in two years warring parties sit down together in a nearly four-year war.

Prisoner swap

Yemeni Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani, who heads the Saudi-backed government’s delegation to the UN-sponsored talks in Sweden, said his team would follow through with a planned prisoner swap with the Houthi rebels.

“The Houthi militias must withdraw from the city of Hodeidah and its port and hand it over to the legitimate government, and specifically internal security forces,” said Mr. Yamani.

Hamid Issam, a member of the team of Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Sweden, dismissed Mr. Yamani’s role in the talks altogether.

Hodeidah is on the agenda at the talks, slated to run for one week. Not on the table are negotiations on a solution to the conflict between the government of Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, based in southern Yemen, and the northern Houthi rebels, according to UN envoy Martin Griffiths.