Delegations from both sides of Yemen’s war have arrived in Sweden for peace talks, with the UN hoping the two can at least agree on a ceasefire for the strategic port city of Hodeidah to allow in desperately needed aid.

A 12-member team from the Saudi-backed government headed by Foreign Minister Khaled al-Yamani left Riyadh early this morning, a day after rebel delegates landed in Stockholm accompanied by the UN peace envoy.

Martin Griffiths, the British UN envoy to Yemen, said it was an encouraging sign that both sides had turned out.  Last time talks were convened, in September, the Houthis declined to show.

“The peace talks are a glimmer of hope we haven’t seen in a long, long time in this war,” Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ Permanent Observer to the UN and Head of Delegation New York, told the Telegraph, told the Telegraph. “We have to hope this leads to a meaningful political process, as this is the only way to reverse – in a sustainable way – the dire humanitarian trend that is playing out in Yemen.”

But there are few incentives for major compromises, however.

One of the thorniest suggestions the UN will propose is for the rebels to hand over Hodeidah – which handles 80 per cent of all food imports and aid – to some type of UN administration.

Analysts said that it was unlikely the Houthis would agree to withdraw from territory or lay down their arms in the Red Sea city, a hard-won prize for the rebels.

And exiled President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi’s administration is thought to be equally unlikely to agree to a power-sharing arrangement that would grant the Houthis a larger role in government, which was one of the original aims of the rebellion.

"I don’t expect much from this round," said Baligh al-Makhlafy, a Yemeni pro-government analyst attending the talks as a technical consultant. "Maybe there’ll be some more exchange of prisoners or some progress on the economy, but I don’t think the Houthis will leave Hodeidah peacefully. They believe they have a powerful card there."

Mr Mardini warned the country could not afford for the talks to fail.

“I’ve been many times to Yemen and each time the situation has deteriorated,” he said. “It was heartbreaking the last time to see people going through the garbage to find food, and that is not because there isn’t food on the market.

“What little money families have they have to use for fuel, generators, water and medicine for the children. It is a dilemma.

“There needs to be immediate commercial and humanitarian imports of food as well as medicines, or 2019 will be a catastrophic year.”