Yemen sides appoint ceasefire observers as army fights al Qaeda

Yemen's government forces battled al Qaeda in the country's south on April 23, aiming to push back advances the militant group has made during a year-long civil war while peace talks take place in Kuwait. 

Twenty fighters loyal to al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) were killed in the clashes, residents and a military source said, while a drone strike killed two others further north. 

AQAP has taken advantage of chaos in Yemen since its civil war began last year to win control over swathes of southern and eastern Yemen, creating a local government there and introducing services. 

The war pits a collection of local forces and army remnants backed by the government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi and a Saudi-led Arab coalition against the Houthi movement and troops loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh. 

Representatives gathered in Kuwait on April 21 to begin peace talks after agreeing a ceasefire across the country. The United Nations, which has convened the talks, says around 6,000 people have died in the conflict, half of them civilians. 

However, as talks moved into a third day disputes continued over both the agenda and accusations from the government that the Houthis and Saleh's forces had breached the truce in the city of Taiz, a source from Hadi's government said. 

The government wants the Houthis and Saleh's forces to release prisoners, withdraw from cities and hand over weapons before discussing a solution to the political disagreements. The Houthis and its allies want coalition air missions to stop and a unity government to be formed before disarmament talks. 

The government delegation on April 23 said it would only meet U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmad and not sit...