Yemen’s Warring Sides To Meet, With Tensions - And Stakes - Higher Than Ever by Sudarsan Raghavan and Missy Ryan – Washington Post
U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths has engaged in shuttle diplomacy for months, repeatedly meeting the parties to the conflict in Yemen, in a bid to bring peace to a country where thousands of civilians have died and millions are at risk of starvation. Finally, he persuaded the warring sides to come to the negotiating table.
On Thursday, they are scheduled to meet in Geneva — the most serious effort in the past two years to reach a deal that could end the war, though few observers expect a significant breakthrough.
The acrimony is so great and mistrust so deep that the sides were not even expected on the eve of the gathering to meet face to face in the sessions.
“No one is really willing to give much to the other side or demonstrate too much enthusiasm for concessions,” said Stephen Seche, a former U.S. ambassador to Yemen. “They are saying, basically, we’re not even going to sit in the same room. So we are starting from a very low base.”
Yemen’s civil war, now in its fourth year, pits northern rebels known as Houthis against the internationally recognized Yemeni government of President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, which is backed by a regional military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and supported by the United States…