GENEVA — The Yemeni government and Houthi rebels agreed to immediately halt fighting Tuesday as they started peace talks mediated by a United Nations special envoy at an undisclosed location in Switzerland, a UN spokesman confirmed.
The seven-day cease-fire, if it holds, will provide desperately needed relief to Yemen's population of 24 million after nine months of conflict that has taken the lives of thousands of civilians and inflicted significant damage on the country's infrastructure, deepening the humanitarian crisis there.
Aides to President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, who has the backing of a Saudi-led military coalition, arrived in Switzerland on Monday, as did representatives of the Houthi rebels who control the country's capital, Sana. They were set to meet the UN special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, for their first round of face-to-face talks by midmorning, the UN spokesman in Geneva, Ahmad Fawzi, said in a telephone interview Tuesday.
"The cessation of hostilities called today should mark the end of military violence in Yemen and the transition to progress based on negotiations, dialogue, and consensus," Ahmed said in a statement.
Peace is a prerequisite, Ahmed said, adding that Yemen needs to restore basic infrastructure, normalize life in its governorates, and resume normal economic activity.
There were apparently no large-scale attacks after the official start of the cease-fire at noon, but mortar and automatic weapons fire from Saudi positions could be heard around 7 p.m. Tuesday, said a resident of Razih, near the border with Saudi Arabia.
Houthi fighters have carried out hit-and-run attacks inside southern Saudi towns and have seized parts of Asir, Najran, and Jizan.
"I heard and saw flames of artillery shells and machine guns now hitting in the border areas," said the resident, who declined to give his name.