UN envoy to meet Yemen's warring sides separately at peace talks

Geneva: The United Nations special envoy to Yemen will hold separate "proximity" peace talks with both sides in Geneva on Sunday with the hope of bringing the warring parties to the same table eventually, a UN spokesman said on Friday.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has convened the talks, expected to last three days, to try to end more than two months of war between Iran-backed Houthis and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia.

"The talks will start as proximity talks, which means the envoy will be shuttling between the two groups in the hope that he can bring them together during these consultations," UN. spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.