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SANAA, Yemen (AP) — Yemen's Shiite rebels headed Kuwait on Thursday to resume UN-mediated talks, amid threats of boycott by the Saudi-backed, internationally-recognized government. Negotiators who will attend the talks are representatives of Ansar Allah, the political arm of the rebel Houthi movement, which has controlled the capital Sanaa since 2014. Previous peace talks failed to bridge the gap between the warring parties while a ceasefire that went into effect in April was marred with multiple breaches by both sides. President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi demands implementation of the UN security council resolution which stipulates the withdrawal of militias from all cities. The Houthis demand a share of power in a new government. The Houthis are also pressing to transfer Hadi's presidential authorities to the new transitional government. In June, UN Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed told the U.N. Security Council that the opposing parties — Yemen's internationally recognized government and Shiite Houthi rebels and their allied troops loyal to a former president— have responded positively to a proposed roadmap he presented to end the conflict. He said that what is left to be finalized is a timeline and sequence of the steps in the roadmap — including when a national unity government would be created. The war in Yemen has killed some 9,000 people and pushed the Arab world's poorest country to the brink of famine. It also created a vacuum that enabled both Yemen's al-Qaida branch and an upstart Islamic State affiliate to seize territory and carry out large-scale attacks. A high ranking Yemeni official said that Hadi's government is under pressure from western allies to join the talks. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the press. The talks, scheduled to take place Friday, come shortly after Ahmed, the UN envoy, paid a visit to Sanaa, where he met for the first time with the ousted President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Yemen's rebels head for Kuwait to resume talks