Abandoning efforts to form a badly-needed two-week humanitarian truce in Yemen, UN secretary General Ban Ki-moon began Thursday’s peace talks in Geneva with a focus on localized ceasefires, AFP reported on Thursday.
A source close to the negotiations told AFP that Thursday’s morning session will focus on the possibility of ceasefires in separate small towns, instead of the originally-intended overall truce.
The negotiations are now entering their fourth day after being bogged down by disagreements between the exiled Yemeni government and the Iran-backed Houthi representatives.
"We discussed the truce but the other side is setting unacceptable conditions," Houthi delegation member Hassan Zeid told AFP on Wednesday, adding that the Yemeni government was insisting on Houthi withdrawal from Aden and Taez, where fighting is still ongoing.
Meanwhile representatives from the Yemeni government have protested at the size of the Houthi delegation, which is more than double the pre-agreed number of ten, AFP reported.
Delegates told AFP the talks in Geneva were supposed to end on Thursday, but have been extended by a day at least.
