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Yemeni Houthis say up to Saudi-led coalition to commit ceasefire

Xinhua, November 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Yemen's Shiite Houthi group said Saturday that it would commit to a ceasefire brokered by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, as long as the Saudi-led coalition observed it.

"According to the principle agreement struck in the Omani capital, we affirm our commitment to ceasefire if the other side abided by the truce and halted all military actions," Houthi-controlled Saba news agency quoted the Houthi forces' spokesman Sharaf Luqman as saying, hours after the Saudi-led coalition declared the start of a 48-hour truce from Saturday noon local time (0900 GMT).

It was the second commitment by the Houthis to the ceasefire in two days.

On Thursday, the Houthi group and its ally former President Ali Abdullah Saleh's forces, said they were ready to commit to ceasefire and join a unity government as per the roadmap put forward by John Kerry.

Hours before the truce took effect, the coalition warplanes launched a series of air strikes throughout Yemen, targeting Houthi fighters and their allied forces loyal to Saleh, particularly in the Houthi-controlled capital Sanaa.

On Nov. 15, Kerry, during his recent Gulf tour, announced the ceasefire in Muscat, saying the Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition had agreed on the cessation of hostilities.

He met with representatives of Houthis and Saudi-led coalition which supports Yemeni internationally recognized exiled President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

"We also agree to the arrangements set out by UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed for attending the peace talks proposed to be held by the end of this current month," they said.

The agreement aimed to pave the way for resuming the UN-sponsored peace talks between Houthis, Saleh's party and the Saudi-led coalition.

Kerry said the roadmap was strongly supported by the UN envoy to Yemen Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.

However, Hadi's Foreign Minister Abdel-Malik al-Mekhlafi responded to Kerry's roadmap as "no more than a media bubble."

"The government was not aware of what Secretary Kerry announced about reaching an agreement with Houthis," Mekhlafi wrote on his official Twitter page.

Mekhlafi said Kerry's announcement was in conflict with UN Security Council Resolution 2216.

Under the resolution, the Security Council demands that the Houthis withdraw from all areas seized in the latest conflicts, relinquish arms seized from military and security institutions, cease all actions falling exclusively within the authority of the legitimate Yemeni government, and fully implement previous council resolutions.

The new proposed roadmap, however, called for naming a new vice president after the withdrawal of the Shiite Houthi rebels from the capital Sanaa.

It also suggested forming a new government covering all warring sides and not led by Hadi who would transfer his power to the new vice president.

In late 2014, the Houthis, backed by Saleh's forces, overthrew the Hadi's government, which appealed to the Saudi-led coalition in March 2015 to restore its power and end Iranian-backed Shiite coup.

According to humanitarian agencies, the civil war has so far killed more than 10,000 people, half of them civilians, injured over 35,000 others and displaced more than 2 million. Endit