Local Editor

UN-sponsored talks aimed at brokering a peace in Yemen will begin next week on Monday in Switzerland’s city of Geneva, as officials said on Friday.

The talks had originally been due to start on Sunday, but the arrival of one of the Yemeni delegations has been delayed, said UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon will brief envoys from the Gulf Cooperation Council and the G16 group - comprising Security Council members and Western powers - on Sunday, before meeting Yemeni delegates the following morning.

Furthermore, the UN’s special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, will initially meet separately with the "opposing factions."

The talks are currently scheduled to last two or three days.

Saudi Arabia began its deadly aggression against Yemen without a mandate from the United Nations [UN] on March 26. Furthermore, the UN says that approximately 2,000 people have lost their lives and as many as 7,330 others have sustained injuries due to the conflict in Yemen since March 19.