UN chief to attend Yemen talks in Sweden: diplomatic source

RIMBO: The United Nations secretary general will attend talks between warring Yemeni parties in Sweden, multiple sources told AFP on Tuesday.

Antonio Guterres will attend UN-brokered negotiations between Yemen's government and Huthi rebels in the rural village of Rimbo, north of Stockholm, on Wednesday, sources close to the talks, including a high-ranking diplomat, said.

The Sweden talks aim to broker deals on key issues in the Yemen war, a complex conflict between the Huthi rebels -- armed northern tribes backed by Iran -- and the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi, allied with a powerful military coalition led by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The Yemen war has triggered what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis, with 14 million people facing imminent starvation and one child dead every 10 minutes of preventable causes.

While the talks do not aim for a mutual ceasefire, mediators are pushing for a de-escalation of violence in two flashpoint cities: rebel-held Hodeida, a port city vital to the delivery of humanitarian aid, and Taiz, Yemen's third largest city, scene of some of the most intense fighting of the war.

But Hodeida has proved a point of contention between the government and rebels. The Red Sea city is controlled by the Huthis. Shipments through its ports are severely restricted by the Saudi-led coalition, which controls Yemen's maritime borders and airspace.

Guterres last week appealed to the Yemeni goverment and rebels to de-escalate violence around Hodeida, through which 90 percent of food imports and three-quarters of humanitarian aid reach Yemen -- where the UN says close to 75 percent of the population will need humanitarian assistance in 2019.

The World Health Organization estimates nearly 10,000 Yemenis have been killed since 2015, when the Saudi-led coalition joined Hadi's fight against the Huthis. Other estimates put the toll at as high as 50,000.