UN team meets Yemen's warring sides in Hudaida over cease-fire

Yemeni officials say a UN team has met with representatives of the country's warring parties for the first time in a key port city.

The team, led by Dutch Maj. Gen. Patrick Cammaert, arrived in Hudaida over the weekend to monitor a cease-fire that went into force in the Red Sea port city.

The officials say the meeting Wednesday involved discussions about the mechanism of the team's work and the number of monitors that will be required in the near future.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric had earlier described the meeting as "one of the priorities" of Cammaert's mission.

A truce in Hudaida and its surroundings went into effect on December 18 but has remained shaky, with the two sides accusing each other of violations.

Elsewhere in Yemen, officials say fighting over the past two days between forces loyal to the internationally recognised government and Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in the capital, Sanaa, has left at least 17 dead from both sides.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to brief the media.

The war between the Houthi rebels and troops loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi escalated in 2015, when he fled into Saudi exile and the Saudi-led military coalition intervened.

Since then, the war has killed some 10,000 people, according to the World Health Organization, although human rights groups say the real death toll could be five times as high.

The conflict has unleashed a major humanitarian crisis and pushed 14 million Yemenis to the brink of famine.