The agreement also includes abolishing “the controversial supreme political council set up jointly by the Al Houthis and the General People’s Congress of former president Saleh on Thursday to run the country”, said Yemen’s Foreign Minister Abdul Malek Al Mikhlafi.
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A United Nations spokesman in Kuwait, however, said Cheikh Ahmed was scheduled to meet with the rebels later Friday and with ambassadors of the 18 countries backing the peace process in Yemen.
Hadi’s government is backed by a US -assisted, Saudi-led military coalition that has been fighting the Shiite rebels, also known as the Houthis, and their allies since March 2015.
Moreover, on Saturday, Yemeni President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi endorsed the agreement and has given the government’s delegation consent to sign, provided the opposing sides sign the agreement prior to August seventh.
In March 2015, Saudi Arabia launched airstrikes targeting Houthis in several cities.
According to sources close to the delegates in Kuwait, the government accepted the deal following pressure from Saudi Arabia which wants to corner the rebels and show they are unwilling to accept a political solution.
The delegation was returning to Riyadh, where it is based, after informing the United Nations envoy that it was ready to sign the proposed peace plan, Emrani said.
Prisoners of war will also be freed, as specified by the UN Security Council resolution 2216, the agreement said.
UN-brokered peace talks in Kuwait have failed to find much common ground between the two sides, with Mr Hadi demanding rebel militias withdraw from all cities and disarm.
It said the deal was signed by GPC deputy head Sadeq Abu Ras and the Houthis’ Ansarullah political council chief, Saleh Al Samad, and outlined a basis for running the country and managing state affairs on the basis of the existing constitution.
Huthi spokesperson Mohammed Abdulsalam, however, said on Twitter before the government announcement that the rebels insist on a comprehensive and complete solution, and rejected what he called “half solutions”.
The U.N. Envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said that the new alliance represents a violation of the global resolutions and urged both sides to “refrain from unilateral actions that undermine political transition”. Most of the discussions focused on the type of the government to run Yemen during a transition period.
On Sunday, two policemen were killed and a third was wounded by a bomb and a vehicle blew up elsewhere in the city without causing casualties, officials said.
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Yemenis say most of those dead have been civilians killed in Saudi air strikes.
