Riyadh (AFP) - The UN envoy to Yemen called for the extension of a five-day pause in a Saudi-led air war which was due to end later Sunday expressing hope it could become permanent.

"I call on all parties to renew their commitment to this truce for five more days at least," Mauritanian diplomat Ismail Ould Sheikh Ahmed told a meeting on Yemen in the Saudi capital.

"This humanitarian truce should turn into a permanent ceasefire," he said.