Yemen’s internationally recognised government, based in Saudi Arabia, has made similar demands but insisted that the Houthis fulfil all those measures before any new government was formed.
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Saudi Arabia, a key USA ally, has come under stiff criticism from rights groups for air strikes that have repeatedly killed civilians in Yemen.
Saudi Arabia accuses the Houthis of being an Iranian proxy, which the rebels deny.
The war in Yemen, which has killed more than 6,500 people and displaced some three million, has dragged on for 18 months.
The coalition intervened in March previous year to support President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi after the Huthis and their allies seized much of Yemen.
The coalition says it seeks to restore the internationally-recognized government in Sanaa, after Houthis captured it in 2014 and forced the government to flee overseas.
The continuous air campaign came amid a flurry of meetings between Kerry, Saudi King Salman and other key players that focused on Yemen and Syria.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said a meeting Thursday which included Kerry, the U.N.’s Yemen envoy Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, ministers from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and a senior British official “focused on finding a peaceful political solution to end the conflict in Yemen and on the role of the worldwide community”.
A foreign ministry official said Yemen has not officially received the new initiative, adding that United Nations envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was tasked with delivering it to warring parties.
Their plan is for Al Houthis to stop shelling across the border with Saudi Arabia, pull back from the capital Sana’a, give up their weapons and enter into a unity government with their domestic foes, who are backed by the GCC states.
The UN has repeatedly expressed concern about the civilian death toll, but between the United States support for the Saudis, and Saudi Arabia’s expressions of outrage every time anyone complains about those deaths, they’ve tended not to follow through on those matters.
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The rebels had been demanding a unity government as the first step towards resolving Yemen’s war.
