Peace talks set, U.N. envoy says

The U.N. envoy for Yemen announced that the warring parties in the country have agreed to take part in peace talks in the region next week.

Special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed welcomed the commitment of the government, Shiite Muslim rebels and Yemen’s former ruling party, the General People’s Congress, to attend the talks. He said in a statement that he will announce a venue and date in the coming days.

Several previous attempts to get the parties to end the conflict have failed. Ahmed urged participants in the upcoming talks “to engage constructively and in good faith, recognizing the need for a rapid end to the violence which has brought intolerable levels of suffering to the Yemeni people.”