Court İn Houthi-Held Sanaa Tries Yemen's Hadi İn Absentia

A court in Sanaa on Wednesday began trial proceedings for President ABD Rabbuh Mansur Hadi and six other Yemeni officials charged with "assaulting the country" and "killing Yemenis", according to Yemen's SABA news agency, which is currently run by the Shia Houthi militant group.



The news agency "ed a pro-Houthi judicial source who described Hadi -- who is being tried in absentia -- as a "fugitive from justice" who was "merely pretending" to be Yemen's president.



On Wednesday, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, the UN's envoy to Yemen, met Hadi to discuss possible peace talks with the Houthis, a presidential source told Anadolu Agency.



While talks are expected to be held in Geneva, they have yet to be officially announced.



On Tuesday, the Yemeni government unveiled the members of its negotiating team, which will be headed by chief negotiator Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi. 



The Houthis, for their part, have yet to reveal the members of their delegation.



Yet despite efforts aimed at a negotiated political solution, the country's armed conflict will likely escalate, according to Yemeni political analysts.



Yemen has been dogged by fierce conflict for the last nine months, during which some 5,700 people have been killed, according to UN figures.



Troops from Bahrain, Sudan, the UAE and Saudi Arabia recently arrived in Aden, where Hadi has set up a temporary government.



Since March 26, a Saudi-led coalition has managed to retake five of Yemen's southern provinces from the Houthis, including Aden. - Yemen