UN envoy meets with Yemen president as war's toll hits 10,000

A UN envoy was in Aden on Monday for talks with Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi as the United Nations said the death toll from the war had reached 10,000, a UN spokesman said.

The envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, was to "try to present (Hadi) the latest peace proposals" to end the nearly two-year war, said UN spokesman Farhan Haq.

The United Nations said the civilian death toll in fighting since a Saudi-led force intervened in March 2015 had reached 10,000, up from the previous figure of 7,000.

The higher toll "underscores the need to resolve the situation in Yemen without any further delay," said Haq.

"There is a huge humanitarian cost."

Ould Cheikh Ahmed is hoping to revive peace prospects in Yemen after Hadi rejected his proposed roadmap. He is due to report to the UN Security Council later this month.

The roadmap provides for a new unity government in Yemen and a rebel withdrawal from the capital and other cities.

Under the proposal, Hadi's powers would be dramatically diminished in favor of a new vice president who would oversee the formation of the interim government that will lead a transition to elections.

The envoy has been holding talks in the Gulf in recent weeks, including in Riyadh, where he met with Yemen's central bank governor to ease a cash crisis in rebel-held areas.

One of the poorest countries in the Arab world, Yemen slid deeper into chaos when the Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015 to push back the rebels who seized Sanaa and other parts of the country.

The United Nations ranks the conflict in Yemen as one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.