(VOVworld)- A 72-hour truce for conflict-riddled Yemen is expected to be announced soon, the UN envoy to the Arabian Peninsula country said Friday after talks with rebel representatives.

UN Secretary-General Special Envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed speaks to media after the Yemen peace talks in Switzerland in Bern December 20, 2015. (Reuters)

Three months of negotiations in Kuwait earlier this year ended without a breakthrough, dashing hopes for an end to the war between Shiite Huthi rebels and government forces that has gripped Yemen for more than 18 months. Fighting flared anew when the talks collapsed in August, prompting UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed to warn that restoring a ceasefire for Yemen was critical. Speaking in the Omani capital on Friday after talks with representatives of the Huthis, the Mauritanian diplomat said a new truce deal was in the works as part of a wider peace plan.