GENEVA — Fighting in Yemen raged on Tuesday, with dozens reported killed even as the country’s Shiite Houthi rebels arrived in Geneva for U.N.-brokered peace talks. U.N. figures reported an increasing number of civilians killed in a conflict that is showing little sign of abating.
The Geneva talks are aimed at ending months of fighting that prompted a Saudi-led coalition to launch an air campaign against the Houthis and their allies nearly three months ago. Still, neither side has shown desire to compromise even as dozens died in renewed fighting in the southern city of Aden.
Following initial meetings with the U.N. envoy, delegate Ghaleb Mutlak said that the rebels are trying to achieve a truce for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and that their delegation is willing to stay in Switzerland as long as it takes to end the bloodshed.
U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said nothing will be settled unless the two sides can be persuaded to sit down together, but that just getting them both to Geneva was a “great achievement.”
“We should not underestimate the significance of this event,” he told reporters after meeting with the Houthi delegation. “It is the important start toward the return to a political process. Let us be realistic, it will be a difficult path, but the important issue is that we start addressing the crisis.”
Meantime on the ground, heavy combat shook the cities of Taiz and Marib, while airstrikes from the Saudi-led coalition hit rebel positions in the capital, Sanaa, as well as Hajja, Saada, al-Jawf and Shabwa province.
The rebel delegation from Sanaa set off Sunday but arrived a day later than expected on Tuesday morning. They blamed the delay on Egypt, claiming they weren’t given permission to fly over its airspace, although Cairo denied the charge.
It’s unclear how long the talks — at least initially involving mediators shuttling between the parties, rather than face-to-face encounters — will last. U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said the start of Ramadan later this week may affect whether the delegations stay in Geneva.
“It is a golden opportunity to try and resolve this crisis,” Fawzi said. “Whether they will agree to extend their stay beyond the beginning of Ramadan is anybody’s guess.”
Yemen’s conflict pits the Houthis — who seized Sanaa last year — and military units loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh against an array of forces, including southern separatists, local and tribal militias, Islamic militants and loyalists of exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi.
The delegation from Sanaa includes loyalists of Saleh and representatives of other political groups.
U.N. figures released Tuesday underlined the urgency of finding a solution. Between Thursday and Monday, 50 civilians were killed — among them 18 children — and a further 111 were wounded, the U.N. human rights office said. That brings the total number of civilians killed since March 26 to 1,412, with 3,423 wounded, it added.
UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, said at least 279 children have been killed and 402 wounded since March 26, compared with 74 killed and 244 wounded in all of 2014. UNICEF said children are being used by armed groups to man checkpoints or carry arms.
