Yemen peace talks delayed

Talks to end a civil war in Yemen did not begin on Monday as planned, the warring sides said as fighting persisted despite an announced ceasefire.

Delegations representing Houthis and the party of ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh have yet to head to Kuwait for the peace talks.

The UN-brokered truce went into effect on April 11.

Previous United Nations-mediated talks in June and December failed to end the war, which has killed about 6,200 people, about half of them civilians.

Fighting and air strikes persist on several battlefronts throughout the country, especially in the contested southwestern city of Taiz and the Nehm area east of the capital Sanaa.

The UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, urged the two parties remaining in Sanaa to commit to the talks and travel to Kuwait.