The United Nations Human Rights Council voted to extend an international probe of alleged war crimes committed in Yemen despite strong opposition from Saudi Arabia and several of its allies.
Amid disrupted Swiss peace talks, a Yemen ceasefire appeared to have collapsed on Friday as government forces captured two towns from rebels and an allied Arab coalition accused insurgents of escalating the conflict by firing ballistic missiles.
Yemeni government and rebel representatives
are to meet in Switzerland on Tuesday for UN-brokered peace talks, likely to be accompanied by a ceasefire, aimed at ending a deadly conflict exploited by jihadists.
Warring factions in Yemen will relaunch peace talks in Switzerland on December 15th, the UN envoy to the embattled country said on Monday,
voicing confidence that a temporary ceasefire will be in place before
negotiations begin.
A Red Cross employee's kidnapping in Yemen underscored the "extremely fragile" situation in the country for humanitarian
workers, with the coming days crucial for securing the hostage's release, ICRC Director-General Yves Daccord said in Geneva on Wednesday.
Yemen peace talks ended in Geneva on Friday with no agreement, but the United Nations said it was still optimistic a ceasefire could be reached "pretty soon”.
Iran-backed Yemeni rebels on Tuesday accused
Saudi Arabia of trying to sabotage UN peace talks in Geneva and ruled out negotiations with the exiled government saying it lacked legitimacy.
UN-sponsored talks aimed at ending the conflict in Yemen by bringing representatives of the warring factions to Geneva are expected to begin on Monday, the world body said.
The party of Yemen's former president Ali Abdullah Saleh, a key ally of Shiite Huthi rebels, on Tuesday welcomed UN-brokered peace talks due to open in Geneva at the weekend.
The death toll from fighting in Yemen since late March has topped 1,000, the United Nations said in Geneva on Thursday, saying it wanted to quickly send international staff back to the country.
Yemen risks an imminent collapse in its health system, the Geneva-based UN health agency warned on Tuesday, estimating the latest death toll from fighting there at 944.
The Geneva-based Red Cross said on Tuesday that one of its volunteers was killed in Yemen, adding that it could not fly in desperately-needed aid due to a lack of security.
The Geneva-based Red Cross expressed deep concern Thursday over the impact of Saudi-led air strikes on the Yemeni capital, urging all sides in the conflict to strive to spare civilians.
Three employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross, including a Swiss man, kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen are in good condition, but the demands of their captors remain unknown, an ICRC spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Tribal gunmen have kidnapped a Swiss man working for the Geneva-based International Committee of the Red Cross in southern Yemen, a local pro-government militia leader said on Monday.
A Swiss woman held hostage in Yemen for nearly a year has been freed and has arrived in Qatar, the Swiss government and the official QNA news agency said on Thursday.
A Swiss woman being held hostage in eastern Yemen has made a second video appeal to the Swiss government to help her, the
Sonntags Zeitung reported on Sunday.
<p>A bid to release a Swiss woman kidnapped in Yemen has suffered a blow after her abductors made excessive demands, including for Osama bin Laden's widows to be freed, a tribal chief said on Thursday.</p>
<p>A Swiss woman being held hostage in eastern Yemen is safe and in good health, a tribal chief told AFP on Tuesday, offering to mediate with the kidnappers for her release.</p>
<p>Suspected Al-Qaeda militants have kidnapped a Swiss woman and are holding her in the southeastern province of Shabwa, a provincial chief and a security official told AFP on Friday.</p>
