A United Nations special envoy will hold separate "proximity" talks with Yemen's two main warring parties in Geneva on Sunday, in the hope of bringing them to the same table eventually, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.

Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has convened the talks, expected to last two or three days, to try to end more than two months of war between Iranian-backed Houthis and forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, who has fled to Saudi Arabia.

"The talks will start as proximity talks, which means the envoy will be shuttling between the two groups in the hope that he can bring them together during these consultations," spokesman Ahmad Fawzi told a news briefing in Geneva.

A Saudi-led coalition of Sunni Muslim states has been bombing the Houthis, fearing the Shi'ite movement will act as a proxy for Saudi Arabia's arch-rival in the region, Shi'ite Iran.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will attend the opening day of the talks, which Fawzi said were the start of a process.

"They are the first consultations to involve the different sides of the Yemeni conflict since hostilities resumed, and therefore mark an important step as the parties, we hope, embark on a road toward a settlement."

He added: "The Special Envoy hopes, and the Secretary-General hopes, that the Geneva consultation on Yemen will create a new dynamic that will build confidence between the Yemeni actors and yield concrete benefits for the population, especially reduced violence and increased access to humanitarian aid and basic services."

More than 3,000 people have been affected by an outbreak of dengue fever in Yemen since late March, with three deaths, the World Health Organization said. "However, there are unconfirmed reports we are verifying that suggest cases and deaths, especially in Aden, could be much higher," WHO spokesman Tarik Jarasevic told the briefing.

Reuters