Houthis negotiate neutral zone, call for transitional government

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Yemen's port city of Hodeidah should be declared a "neutral zone," the head negotiator of the Iran-aligned Houthi group said on Saturday.

"It (Hodeidah) should be a neutral zone apart from the conflict, and the military brigades that came from outside Hodeidah province should leave."

Mohammed Abdusalam made the remarks on the sidelines of peace talks underway in Sweden with the delegation of the Saudi-backed government.

The Houthis control major population centers in Yemen, including the capital Sanaa and the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, a lifeline for millions of people that is now a focus of the war after the coalition launched a campaign to capture it this year.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom (L) and UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths at a press conference as peace talks get underway between warring Houthis and the Yemeni government in Johannesburg, Sweden, December 6, 2018. /VCG Photo

Abdusalam said his group was open to the possibility of giving the United Nations a role at Sanaa airport as part of an effort to get it reopened.

The negotiator also called for the formation of a transitional government with the participation of "all political parties."

While a Yemeni government official said the same day that Huthi rebels were "not serious" on finding common ground to end the devastating war, three days into UN-brokered talks.

"Expectations stem from experience, and from experience, I would say no, they are not serious," said Rana Ghanem, a member of the government delegation to the talks.

UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths secured a prisoner swap deal on the first day of the talks on Thursday. But a UN source said the two sides remained far apart on Sanaa airport and Hodeidah.

(Cover: A woman displaced from the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah pulls empty canisters outside her family shelter in Sanaa, Yemen, November 2, 2018. /VCG Photo)

(With inputs from agencies)