Shi'ite rebels in conflict-torn Yemen have agreed to stop fighting, the United Nations says, and a UN envoy is now going to the region to see how Yemen's government will respond.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric says the rebels, known as Houthis, accepted a UN Security Council resolution that calls for an end to violence, withdrawal of their forces from all areas they have seized, and a halt to undermining the political transition in the impoverished Arab nation.
The April 14 resolution imposed an arms embargo on Houthi leaders and their key supporters, former President Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son.
Dujarric said on Wednesday the UN special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who has been trying to end the conflict, welcomed the Houthis' latest statements accepting the resolution.
Dujarric says Cheikh Ahmed believes the government, the Houthis and their allies should accept a UN invitation to join peace talks based on Security Council resolutions, an initiative by the Gulf Cooperation Council and the country's National Dialogue.
He says Cheikh Ahmed will be returning to the region on Thursday to try "to gel what is being said into something a little more concrete".
He will also seek the support of the government, the Houthis and regional powers for peace talks, Dujarric said.
Several previous attempts to end the conflict have failed, and it has proven nearly impossible to arrange a humanitarian pause to deliver desperately needed aid.
The fighting has killed more than 4,000 people, leaving the Arab world's poorest country in the grip of a humanitarian crisis and on the brink of famine.
Yemen's conflict pits President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, a US ally, against the Iranian-backed Houthis - who seized the capital, Sanaa, last year - and military units loyal to ex-president Saleh.
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