A Houthi delegation has arrived in Sweden for UN-sponsored Yemen peace talks as Western nations press for an end to the war and the United Nations warns of a looming economic disaster.
The nearly four-year-old conflict, which has killed tens of thousands and left millions facing starvation, has pitted the Iranian-aligned Houthi group against Yemeni forces backed by an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Houthi team was escorted from the capital Sanaa, which was seized by the group in 2014, to Sweden by UN special envoy Martin Griffiths.
President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi's government is expected to follow the Houthis, whose attendance was secured after the evacuation of 50 wounded Houthis for treatment in Oman on Monday.
A previous round in September collapsed when the Houthis failed to appear.
The talks will be held in a renovated castle outside Stockholm to discuss further confidence-building steps and a transitional governing body.
Outrage over the October 2 murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has intensified international scrutiny of Saudi activities in the region, potentially giving Western powers, which provide arms and intelligence to the coalition, more leverage to demand action.
Germany, Denmark and Sweden have suspended arms exports to Saudi Arabia over Khashoggi's killing and the Yemen war. The US halted refuelling support for coalition warplanes, whose air strikes have been blamed for many civilian deaths.
The Arab alliance intervened in the war in 2015 to restore Hadi's government, but has bogged down in military stalemate.
Residents in the port of Hodeidah, now a focus of the war, were fearful of renewed fighting if the talks failed as each side fortified their positions in the Houthi-held Red Sea city after a period of reduced hostilities.
The conflict, seen as a proxy war between Riyadh and Tehran, has left over 8 million Yemenis facing famine although the United Nations has warned this could rise to 14 million. Three-quarters of the population, or 22 million, rely on aid.
The talks, which will focus on reopening Sanaa airport, implementing a prisoner swap and securing a truce in Hodeidah, the entry point for most of Yemen's commercial goods and aid.
This would serve as a foundation for a wider ceasefire that would halt coalition air strikes and Houthi missile attacks on Saudi cities.
