Houthis, Resigned Yemeni Government Agree to Ceasefire
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Houthi Ansarullah Movement and the resigned Yemeni government officials have reportedly agreed to begin a ceasefire ahead of the resumption of peace talks expected to begin in April.
The agreement for a ceasefire in the near future came as Houthis met with the UN envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, in the Yemeni capital Sana’a on Sunday, AP reported.
Officials told AP that the Houthis had agreed to implement a UN Security Council resolution which would require them to give up their weapons and withdraw from territory they have seized, including the capital.
Ahead of meeting with the Houthis, Ahmed held talks with resigned Yemeni President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi in Riyadh.
Officials with the resigned government reportedly said on Sunday that they agreed to the ceasefire to show their good intentions towards a resolution for the conflict.
Earlier attempts at a ceasefire agreement have failed as either side has accused the other of violating the terms before they could take hold.
Talks scheduled for April would restart a first round of discussions which ended abruptly in December without resolution.
A Saudi-led aggression began bombing raids on innocent people of Yemen in March 2015 in a bid to restore power to Mansour Hadi.
The UN said Friday that Saudi-led raids are responsible for the vast majority of the estimated 3,200 civilian deaths in the Yemen war. Another 3,000 fighters on both sides are thought to have died over the past year.
