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The port of Hodeida, the main point of entry for humanitarian aid in Yemen. REUTERS / Abduljabbar Zeyad

Yemeni rebels rejected on Friday during the peace talks in Sweden, the government's ultimatum demanding their withdrawal from the port of Hodeida, the main entry point for humanitarian aid in Yemen at war. The government accuses the rebels of passing weapons through this port.

The ultimatum of the government was immediately rejected by the Houthi rebels. " This is not the order of the day, " said Abdulmalik al-Ajri, a member of the Houthi rebellion delegation.

The Yemeni government is demanding the departure of the Hodeida rebels and threatens, if not, to resume its military offensive on the port city. The port of Hodeida is strategic, with three quarters of goods and humanitarian aid going to Yemen. A truce was signed in November after a broad offensive by the pro-government coalition, but sporadic fighting continues.

The rebels on their side are demanding the reopening of the airport of the capital Sanaa - which they have been controlling since 2014 - to civilian traffic. They threatened Thursday to close it also to UN planes.

The Yemeni government has offered to allow its reopening. It has, however, made it a condition that airplanes traveling to or from Sanaa be inspected in Aden or Sayoun, whose airports are controlled by government forces.

The Houthis rejected the conditions, saying the reopening of the airport should be done in accordance with international standards, reports Qatari television channel al-Jazeera.

The belligerents, the Saudi-backed government and Iran-backed rebels have been meeting since Thursday in Sweden, for the first time since 2016. The UN's goal, at the initiative of these contacts, is to renew the dialogue to end a conflict that has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014 and precipitated 14 million people on the verge of starvation.

From now on, each side threatens to break the dialogue if its requirements are not satisfied. And that, while UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on the parties to show " flexibility " and " a commitment in good faith and without preconditions ".

(With agencies)