Progress in UN's Yemen peace mission

ADEN (Reuter) - Sporadic artillery exchanges echoed over Aden yesterday as a United Nations envoy reported progress in his mission to bring about a ceasefire in Yemen's six-week war.

Aden residents, suffering water, power and medical shortages, said battles that had raged on Monday around the southern stronghold eased after midnight. They said they could only hear sporadic shelling yesterday. 'It is relatively less intense,' said a security official.

The southern defence ministry said 10 civilians, including five members of the same family, were killed by shelling on Monday in Aden.

In Abu Dhabi, the UN envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, said 'the ball is starting to roll' in his mission to try to implement a UN ceasefire call issued on 1 June. He said northern Yemen had accepted suggestions by the south to involve neutral foreigners in a military committee that would try to enforce the ceasefire.