UN calls on Yemen's warring parties to accept peace plan

"All we need now is for the parties to agree to this deal. That's all," Martin Griffiths said.

"The international community, as represented by this council, is united (with) a central, clear and consistent message: that the only way out of the conflict is a negotiated political solution," Griffiths said.

"Generally, it is also true that there is a convergence of diplomatic voices in favor of an end to the war and its successful political resolution," he added.

Yemen's civil war, which started in 2014, pits Iran-backed Houthi rebels against an internationally recognised government backed by a Saudi-led military coalition.

The conflict has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced millions, according to international organisations, sparking what the UN calls the world's worst humanitarian crisis.

The US ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas Greenfield, said most of the blame for the fighting in Yemen lay with the Houthi rebels.

"We now urge the Houthis to respond and engage productively. Hputhi actions to date do not lead us to believe they are committed to a peaceful resolution of the conflict," she said.

"The Houthi offensive in Marib continues to  take Yemeni lives - including those of internally displaced persons," she added, referring to the capital of an oil-rich region and the government's last significant pocket of territory in the north.

Since February the UN has been pushing a plan to end the conflict that features a nationwide ceasefire, the opening of north-south roads to guarantee movement of people, humanitarian and other aid, and the launch of a political process to end the fighting.

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