UN Secretary General to attend Yemen talks in Sweden

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will participate in talks between warring Yemeni parties in Sweden on Thursday, the world body said, to give a boost on the final day of negotiations.

Guterres will attend UN-brokered negotiations between Yemen's government and Houthi rebels in the rural village of Rimbo, north of Stockholm.

He will "hold meetings with the two delegations and will address the closing session of this round of consultations", the UN said in a statement.

Control of Yemen is split between Houthi rebels - armed northern tribes backed by Iran - and the government of President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who is backed by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.

The 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 from preventable causes.

At last 10,000 people have died, many are them civilians from Saudi-led coalition air strikes. Others have put the figure at 50,000.

While the talks do not aim for a mutual ceasefire, mediators are pushing for a de-escalation of violence in two flashpoint cities: the rebel-held port city of Hodeida and Taiz, Yemen's third largest city.

Hodeida has proved a point of contention between the government and rebels, which is vital for aid to the country but where shipments have been severely restricted by the Saudi-led coalition.

UN envoy Martin Griffiths has guided both parties through intensive political consultations on various sensitive issues "with the aim of putting Yemen back on the path of peace, and alleviating the suffering of the Yemeni people", the UN said.

Guterres last week appealed to the Yemeni government and rebels to scale down violence around Hodeida, through which 90 percent of food imports and three-quarters of humanitarian aid reach Yemen.

The UN says close to 75 percent of Yemen's population will need humanitarian assistance in 2019.