Northern Yemeni gunners kept up an artillery barrage of the southern city of Aden in which at least 11 people were killed Friday and residents were forced to flee to safer areas.
A government source in San`a said northern forces entrenched in an arc around Aden were aiming to capture the airport but would not try to enter the port city.The northern government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh is under international pressure not to storm Aden because of the large civilian casualties that would result.
At the United Nations, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali Friday called on north Yemen to put an immediate end to the shelling of Aden.
His statement said north Yemen's planning and development minister, Abdul-Karim al-Iryani, promised to convey this request immediately and would deliver a response "in the next few hours." There was no news of an answer.
Northern forces have been bombarding the city of 400,000 - already suffering shortages of water, fresh food and medical supplies - for a week, with up to 200 people reported killed and 700 wounded.
The southern government Friday asked Aden residents, sweltering in summer temperatures of 104 degrees with 90 percent humidity, to ration their use of electricity and cut down on the use of air conditioning.