REPRESENTATIVES of Yemen’s internationally recognised government and of Shi’ite rebels who have controlled the capital Sanaa since September a year ago agreed at the weekend to start a weeklong ceasefire today. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to reporters.
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The U.N. agency for children, UNICEF, has said that almost half of those killed in the war so far have been civilians, and that 637 of them have been children.
However, it remains unclear if Huthi rebels and allied forces – renegade troops still loyal to former strongman Ali Abdullah Saleh – would commit to the halt in fighting.
SANAA, Yemen (AP) The Saudi-led coalition supporting Yemen’s internationally recognized government says a planned truce with the country’s Shiite rebels has been postponed for 12 hours. The newest branch of Islamic State has exploited the chaos to launch spectacular attacks in Yemen on both the Shi’ite mosques of the Houthis and senior officials and troops loyal to the government.
The talks are meant to secure improvements in the humanitarian situation and a return to a peaceful and orderly political transition based on the UN Security Council Resolution 2216 that calls for the withdrawal of Houthi forces from territories they have captured and for them to disarm. “A longer-lasting ceasefire, the removal of the Saudi-led blockade on Yemeni ports and even a rough framework to keep the talks going is about as much as can be hoped for right now”.
The Houthis, who control most of the northern part of the country, see the Arab alliance’s military operations in Yemen since March as an aggression.
The degree of commitment to the seven-day truce – previewed last week by United Nations envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed – remained unclear late Monday, with no word on whether Iranian-backed Houthi rebels will honor the deal.
Representatives from the Hadi government and the Houthi rebel group are expected to attend United Nations-sponsored peace talks on Yemen scheduled to start on Tuesday in Switzerland. The Houthis have not yet indicated a willingness to abide by this resolution, although Reuters reports both sides have agreed to “a draft agenda and ground rules for the talks”.
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But both sides now say they are determined to end the crisis that had devastated the country and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
