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Update: Yemen peace talks in Kuwait delayed

Xinhua, April 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

A new round of Yemen peace talks scheduled to begin in Kuwait on Monday has been delayed due to "developments over the last few hours" that led to some parties not showing up at the meeting, according to Kuwaiti officials and the UN special envoy to Yemen.

"We are working to overcome the latest challenges and ask the delegations to show good faith, participate in the talks in order to reach a peaceful resolution to the crisis in Yemen," UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Monday after the delegation of Yemen's Houthi group and former Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, both allied against a Saudi-led Arab coalition that backs Yemen's President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi, failed to arrive in Kuwait for the talks.

"The next few hours are crucial," the UN envoy said, urging all sides to take their responsibility seriously and agree on comprehensive solutions.

It is hoped that the UN-brokered talks would end more than a year of Yemen's civil war and a Saudi-led military intervention, which have claimed more than 6,400 lives, over half of them civilians, and displaced millions, according to UN statistics.

A latest cease-fire kicked off on April 10 and was supposed to pave the way for Monday's talks, but both warring sides have complained of violations by the other side, including continued heavy shelling and air strikes. Endit