Muscat: The United Nations’ envoy for Yemen said on Friday after meeting with Al Houthi forces in Oman that he hoped to announce a ceasefire in the conflict in the next few days.
Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, speaking to Oman’s state news agency ONA, said Al Houthi representatives and their allies had said a ceasefire was necessary. But he added he had yet to meet with Yemen President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi to discuss the matter.
“They were long and positive meetings, which make me optimistic. They have agreed during them to accept a ceasefire for 72 hours in Yemen which could be extended,” he told ONA.
He would meet President Hadi in Saudi Arabia later on Friday, he said.
Hadi’s internationally-recognised government, which is supported by an alliance of Arab states led by Saudi Arabia, is battling the Al Houthis who took over the Yemeni capital Sana’a in September 2014.
Al Houthis toughened demands this week for the resumption of peace talks to end the 19-month-old civil war, saying Hadi must go and an agreement must be reached on the presidency, complicating United Nations efforts to bring the parties back to talks.
A shaky ceasefire between the government and the Iran-aligned Al Houthis, took effect in April and brought some respite from the war, which started when the rebels pushed the government into exile in March 2015.
Peace talks broke down in August, though, and Saudi-led air strikes on the Al Houthis have resumed.
Separately, a Yemeni man was killed and two others, including a child, were wounded in Saudi Arabia’s southern Jizan province by a shell fired by Al Houthi forces from inside Yemen, Saudi state news agency SPA reported on Friday.
