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                     Yemen Sides Set for UN-Led Peace Talks

   by VOA News

   Yemen's warring sides are due to take part in U.N.-brokered peace talks
   Monday in Geneva in their first diplomatic bid to resolve the conflict
   since it escalated three months ago into a regional fight.

   Delegations from the exiled government of President Abdu Rabbu Mansour
   Hadi and the Houthi rebels who control the capital, Sanaa, are not
   expected to meet face-to-face.  Instead, the U.N.'s envoy for Yemen,
   Ismail Ould Cheick Ahmed, will lead the talks by holding separate
   meetings with each side.

   U.N. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said Sunday the hope is that the so-called
   "proximity talks" will develop into face-to-face negotiations.

   U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is also in Geneva for the talks.  He
   has called on both sides to enter the process with no preconditions and
   said he hopes the meeting will restart a peaceful political transition
   in Yemen.

   Yemen has been in political upheaval since 2011 when protesters forced
   longtime President Ali Abdullah Saleh from power. Saleh now backs the
   Houthis.

   Houthi fighters swept from Sana'a south to the port city of Aden in
   late March, sending Hadi fleeing to neighboring Saudi Arabia. In
   response, Saudi Arabia began leading a coalition conducting airstrikes
   against the Houthis at Hadi's request.

   The U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution in April demanding the
   Houthis stop their violence and withdraw from areas they have seized,
   including Sanaa. It also called on all sides to facilitate the delivery
   of humanitarian aid to civilians affected by the conflict.

   Last week, the U.N. said 21 million of Yemen's 26 million people were
   in need of aid, and that the fighting had forced 1 million people from
   their homes.

   The conflict has killed more than 2,500 people and injured 11,000
   others.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/yemen-sides-set-for-un-led-peace-talk
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References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/yemen-sides-set-for-un-led-peace-talks/2822006.html