The United Nations envoy to Yemen was arranging face-to-face negotiations between the Yemeni government and Houthi rebels but warned that a "disastrous humanitarian situation" has left most of the country in dire need. Without naming specific parties to the conflict, U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council Friday that it had been characterized by "blatant disregard for the laws of war." At least 5,400 people have been killed in the poorest country on the Arabian Peninsula and the United Nations says the humanitarian situation, exacerbated by a Saudi blockade of Yemen's ports, grows worse by the day. Ahmed told the Security Council that Hadi has agreed to send a delegation to peace talks that will include the Iranian-backed Houthis. "I will start working immediately with the government of Yemen, the Houthis and other stakeholders to agree on the agenda, date and format for these talks," he said. "I hope that these first face-to-face talks will chart a course toward a rapid end to the fighting, the resumption of political dialogue, and Yemen's return to an orderly and peaceful political transition," he said. Ahmed said he wanted the talks to focus on main elements of Security Council resolution 2216 – withdrawing militias from key cities, releasing prisoners, returning heavy weapons seized from the army, improving the humanitarian situation and resuming inclusive political dialogue. Previous U.N.-sponsored peace talks faltered in June after Hadi's government demanded that the Houthis pull out of cities captured since last September as a precondition for a cease-fire. Ahmed said that in Yemen "civilians continue to face a deteriorating humanitarian situation and suffer the consequences of blatant disregard for the laws of war." He said that the last U.N. humanitarian office report indicated there were more than 21 million people in need of humanitarian response, or 80 percent of the population. Some 20 million lacked access to safe drinking water and the number of severely malnourished children exceeded 500,000. Without naming the Saudis, the envoy said a Saudi-led naval inspection regime "continues to undermine the lives and livelihoods of Yemenis." Meanwhile, heavy fighting between Yemeni pro-government forces and the Houthi rebels besieging the western city of Taiz killed 71 people in the past two days, according Yemeni security officials. Of those killed, 11 were civilians and the rest were fighters from both sides. Another 100 people have been wounded in fighting in the city, where a Saudi-led coalition is carrying out airstrikes against the rebels. The U.N. says at least 2,577 civilians were killed since the Saudi-led air campaign began in March, while 5,078 have been injured. The UNHCR said in a Friday statement that checkpoints run by fighters affiliated with the Houthis are exacerbating "the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Taiz. They are limiting the movement of civilians and blocking supply routes from the capital Sanaa, the port city of Aden and other parts of Yemen, the U.N. said. Civilians and traders are being stopped from transporting essential goods into Taiz, including water, fruit and vegetables, the U.N. said, adding that the price of water has soared by 300 percent in the past week. The health system in Taiz is at "near collapse" and small private hospitals "have been overwhelmed with casualties by the fighting," the U.N. said. Also Friday, coalition airstrikes hit a Houthi-held security administration building in the central Ibb province, killing at least seven rebels and destroying weapon supplies, security officials there said. In Bayda province, six Houthis were killed in an airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition that hit a rebel camp, according to security officials and witnesses who declined to be named. In Shabwa province, five Houthi and allied forces were killed in a coalition airstrike in the city of Bihan, according to security officials and witnesses. Three civilians were killed by shrapnel from the airstrike, they said. Three civilians near the houses of Houthi leaders in the Bani Hashish region north of Sanaa were killed when the buildings were hit by coalition airstrikes, according to security officials and witnesses. In Sanaa, an unidentified number of Houthis were killed in coalition airstrikes, according to security officials and witnesses. The United Arab Emirates Friday announced the death of a soldier wounded in fighting in September in Yemen's Marib province. The soldier died while receiving medical care at a hospital in Germany, the state-run WAM news agency reported.
