Peace talks between Yemen's warring factions have failed to produce a ceasefire agreement, according to the country's exiled foreign minister.

Riad Yassin blamed the failure of talks in Geneva on the rebel Houthi side, which he said had stalled progress.

Mr Yassin said that efforts would continue to find a peaceful solution to the conflict, but added no date had been set for a second round of talks.

Yemen's conflict has left an estimated 20 million people in need of aid.

"We really came here with a big hope and still we are optimistic that we will go into a peaceful solution for Yemen under the umbrella of the United Nations," Mr Yassin told reporters.

"But unfortunately the Houthi delegation did not allow us to really reach all progress as we expected. This is not getting as much success as we hoped but it doesn't mean that we have failed."

There were numerous extensions to the talks during five days of diplomacy brokered by UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, who was forced to shuttle between the delegations after they refused to sit down together.

But Mr Ahmed said there was "a certain willingness from all the parties to discuss issues around the ceasefire".

"We managed to get suggestions from both sides that we can build upon in coming days in order to reach a permanent agreement," he added.

BBC