COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) — Sweden's foreign minister says her country could host talks between Yemen's warring parties after efforts by the U.N. special envoy failed to bring the sides together.
Margot Wallstrom says the United Nations has asked Sweden "if we could be a place for the U.N. envoy to gather the parties in this conflict" — the internationally recognized government, supported by a Saudi-led coalition, and Yemen's Iran-backed Shiite rebels known as Houthis.
Wallstrom told Sweden's news agency TT on Wednesday that Sweden would be "happy about it" but that nothing's definite.
The conflict in Yemen, the Arab world's poorest country, began with the 2014 takeover of the capital, Sanaa, by the Houthis who toppled the internationally recognized government. A Saudi-led coalition allied with the government has been fighting the Houthis since 2015.