Yemen's president agrees to 72-hour ceasefire

Yemen's President Abdu-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has officially agreed on Monday to a 72-hour ceasefire between the warring parties in the war-torn Arab country proposed by the United Nations.

The country's Foreign Minister Abdul-Malik Mekhlafi declared on his official Twitter account saying that "the president agreed to a 72-hour ceasefire to be extended if the other party (Houthis) adheres to it."

The Yemeni minister said the military commission responsible for overseeing ceasefires will be activated and lifting the siege on Taiz province during the 72-hour cessation of hostilities.

A Yemeni government official said that a fresh round of peace talks sponsored by the United Nations will probably start after the three-day truce.

However, the pro-Houthi authorities in Sanaa haven't yet announced their response to the 72-hour ceasefire.

A number of humanitarian truces between Yemeni warring sides occurred in the past months but failed to stop the fierce fighting across the country.

The situation in Yemen has deteriorated economically and politically since March 2015, when war broke out between the Shiite Houthi group, supported by former President Ali Abdullash Saleh, and the government backed by a Saudi-led Arab coalition.

Houthis and Saleh's forces hold most of Yemen's northern regions while government forces backed by Saudi-led military coalition share control of the rest of the country including seven southern provinces.

The civil war, ground battles and airstrikes have already killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured more than 35,000 others and displaced over two millions, according to humanitarian agencies. Endit