Initial Yemen talks concentrating on practical details: UN envoy

The Yemenis need to talk among themselves to reach basic agreement to better participate in the ongoing UN-led consultations, UN Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Wednesday.

"As long as we have not reached the point where the Yemenis agree together, (to talk to the UN) will be very difficult," the envoy said in a statement.

Ahmed said discussions around practical details continued, according to Xinhua news agency.

According to Ahmed, out of the 22 people who had come from Yemen's capital Sanaa, only seven delegation members and three advisors should be allowed to participate in the consultations in order to have equality between the two groups.

"We had clearly communicated to both delegations that the number of participants should be limited to an overall number of 10 persons per delegation," he said.

The UN-led Geneva Consultations on Yemen, or Yemen Consultations, began in Geneva on Monday with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon meeting with the Yemeni delegation that came from Riyadh representing the government.

Ban had to leave on Monday before the delegation arrived from Sanaa on Tuesday morning.

Ahmed described the consultations as "an important start towards the return to a political process", saying "after overcoming great challenges, having now both delegations here in Geneva is a great achievement and we should not underestimate the significance of this event".

"I hope that the Yemeni sides will utilise the consultations to share ideas, in particular about how to alleviate the humanitarian situation and to de-escalate the violence," he said.

According to Ahmed, discussions will foster mechanisms that create confidence, increase the chances of implementation of the different UN Security Council Resolutions and ensure that compromises on one side will not be abused by the other.

In an earlier statement, the envoy stated that the UN hoped that the consultations would yield concrete benefits for the people, especially reduce violence and increase access to humanitarian aid and basic services.

The closed-door consultations will last two to three days, with the possibility of further extensions.