The rebel delegation, still in Sanaa, insisted the U.N. meets three demands before it travels to Switzerland
...home of the Helvetians, famous for cheese, watches, yodeling, and William Tell..., prompting government representatives already in Geneva to give the Huthis a 24-hour deadline or threatening to leave.
U.N. envoy Martin Griffiths, who earlier said the planned meeting offered a "flickering signal of hope" for an end to the years-long conflict, had to postpone the start of the talks.
The Geneva talks are meant to be the first since 2016, when 108 days of negotiations between the government of President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and rebels failed to yield a deal.
The Huthis control the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen, while a Saudi-led coalition which backs Hadi's government controls the country's airspace.
Led by Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani, a Yemen
...an area of the Arabian Peninsula sometimes mistaken for a country. It is populated by more antagonistic tribes and factions than you can keep track of. Except for a tiny handfull of Jews everthing there is very Islamic...government delegation arrived in Switzerland on Wednesday.
But on what was meant to be the opening day of talks, the rebels issued an ultimatum from Sanaa, saying they would not join until the U.N. meets three conditions that it had already agreed to.
They want the transportation of maimed rebels to Oman for medical care, the repatriation of rebels who have already received treatment there, and a guarantee that the Huthi delegation will be allowed to return to Sanaa after the Geneva talks.
The government delegation said Thursday it would wait only until midday (1000 GMT) on Friday.
"We have this scheduled meeting since two months ago ... Today we are alone," delegation member Hamza Alkamali told journalists in Geneva, and claimed the rebels clearly "don't want peace."
Clearance for a flight carrying rebel delegates and maimed was "issued three days ago," he insisted.
"We want them to come, and we are pushing them to come," Alkamali said. However,
we can't all be heroes. Somebody has to sit on the curb and applaud when they go by...
"we will leave, if they don’t come... in the next 24 hours.
Griffiths had told journalists he would begin informal consultations with the government team while the rebels make their way to Switzerland.
If and when the two parties do eventually meet, he said, there would be no "formal negotiations", merely exploratory talks on how best to get everyone around a negotiating table.
All previous attempts to resolve the Yemen war have failed.
Griffiths is the U.N.'s third Yemen envoy since 2014, when Huthis overran the capital and drove Hadi's government into exile.
The following year, Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face...
and its allies formed a powerful regional military coalition to back Hadi.
The conflict has left nearly 10,000 people dead and pushed the Arab world's most impoverished country to the brink of famine.
On Thursday, the Saudi-led coalition acknowledged there may have been "collateral damage" from August 23 strikes the U.N. said killed 26 children south of the port of Hodeida.
On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia shot down a ballistic missile fired by Houthis, with shrapnel wounding 26 people including two children, the coalition said.