Yemen’s Houthi rebels have begun direct talks with Saudi Arabia aimed at ending almost a year of war after United Nations-brokered attempts to resolve the conflict failed, the rebels and Saudi coalition said Wednesday.
“There are extensive direct negotiations between Yemen and Saudi Arabia in an area located on the border,” Houthi spokesman Mohammed al-Shire’i said, adding that the Houthis had released Saudi prisoners of war during the discussions, which began Monday. “The talks focus on ways of ending the war and starting an immediate cease-fire.”
The Saudi coalition said talks mediated by Saudi tribes along the border had already created a “state of calm” to facilitate aid deliveries. The coalition agreed to allow aid to pass into Yemen through one of Saudi Arabia’s border crossings, according to a statement.
Both sides said a prisoner swap had taken place. The Saudi coalition said the Houthis had released a captured Saudi soldier and that it had freed seven Yemenis arrested in combat zone near the border. It was unclear if the Yemenis were rebels.
The talks could present a new avenue for resolution to the conflict after the breakdown of several U.N.-backed attempts at mediation.
Fighting began last March when Saudi Arabia and a coalition of mostly Sunni Arab allies began a bombing campaign against the Houthis. They sought to unseat the rebels, who had taken over the government, and restore exiled President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi to power.
Representatives of the two sides never engaged directly during a U.N.-brokered round of talks in Geneva last June, while another round of Swiss talks in December was marred by continued fighting on the ground. A scheduled continuation of U.N.-led talks in January was postponed.
The U.N. couldn’t immediately be reached for comment on the direct talks.
The Houthis adhere to the Zaidi offshoot of Shiite Islam. Sunni Saudi Arabia and its allies see them as a proxy of Shiite Iran, the kingdom’s main regional rival for power. Iran supports the rebels politically, but has denied sending them weapons.
The U.N. estimates that more than 6,000 people have been killed in Yemen since the conflict began a year ago, almost half of them civilians. Millions have been uprooted from their homes and are struggling to survive in a country that was already one of the poorest in the region before the war.
—Ahmed Al Omran in Riyadh contributed to this article