Houthi rebels refuse to join Geneva talks on Yemen until their conditions met

Yemen’s Houthi rebels said Thursday they will not join peace talks in Geneva until their conditions are met, accusing the UN of failing to keep its promises. Hameed Assem, a member of the rebel delegation scheduled to attend the talks on Thursday, said the UN had not met three conditions that had been previously agreed. The conditions include the transport of wounded rebels to Oman and the repatriation of rebels who have already received treatment there, AFP reports. The Houthi delegation also needs a guarantee that it would be allowed to return to the rebel-held capital Sanaa after the talks. The planned UN-sponsored talks in Geneva will be the first public meetings involving government and rebels delegations since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations in Kuwait failed to reach agreement on power-sharing.