UNITED NATIONS — The warring parties in Yemen have agreed to a cessation of hostilities starting at midnight on April 10 and peace talks in Kuwait beginning a week later, United Nations special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Wednesday.

There have already been several failed attempts to defuse the conflict in Yemen, which has drawn in regional foes Saudi Arabia and Iran, and triggered a humanitarian crisis in the Arab world’s poorest country.

“This is really our last chance,” Ould Cheikh Ahmed told reporters in New York. “The war in Yemen must be brought to an end.”

A Saudi-led coalition began a military campaign in Yemen a year ago with the aim of preventing Iran-allied Houthi rebels and forces loyal to Yemen’s ex-President Ali Abdullah Saleh from taking control of the country.

The U.N. Security Council welcomed the announcement and urged parties to the conflict to “immediately reduce violence and refrain from any action that could lead to increased tensions, in order to pave the way for a cessation of hostilities.”

Ould Cheikh Ahmed said Saudi Arabia is “fully committed to make sure that the next talks take place and particularly supports us with regard to the cessation of hostilities.”

The U.N. says more than 6,000 people, half of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the Saudi-led military intervention.

Human Rights Watch called on the United States, Britain, France and others should suspend all weapons sales to Saudi Arabia over unlawful air strikes.