UN says Al Houthis in Yemen have agreed to stop fighting
UN envoy Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad heading to region to assess the situation
United Nations: Al Houthi militia in conflict-torn Yemen has agreed to stop fighting, the United Nations said Wednesday, and now a UN envoy is going to the region to see how Yemen’s government will respond.
UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Al Houthis accepted a UN Security Council resolution that calls for an end to violence, withdrawal of their forces from all areas they have seized, and a halt to undermining the political transition in the impoverished Arab nation.
The April 14 resolution imposed an arms embargo on Al Houthi leaders and their key supporters, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh and his son.
Dujarric said the UN special envoy for Yemen, Esmail Ould Shaikh Ahmad, who has been trying to end the conflict, welcomed Al Houthis’ latest statements accepting the resolution.
Dujarric said Shaikh Ahmad believes the government, Al Houthis and their allies should accept a UN invitation to join peace talks based on Security Council resolutions, an initiative by the GCC and the country’s National Dialogue.
He said Shaikh Ahmad will be returning to the region on Thursday to try “to gel what is being said into something a little more concrete”. He will also seek the support of the government, Al Houthis and regional powers for peace talks, Dujarric said.
Several previous attempts to end the conflict have failed, and it has proven nearly impossible to arrange a humanitarian pause to deliver desperately needed aid.
The fighting has killed more than 4,000 people, leaving the Arab world’s poorest country in the grip of a humanitarian crisis and on the brink of famine.
Yemen’s conflict pits President Abd Rabbo Mansour Hadi against the Iranian-backed Al Houthis — who seized the capital, Sana’a, last year — and military units loyal to ex-president Saleh.
A Saudi-led and US-backed coalition began launching air strikes against Al Houthis and their allies on March 26, shortly after Hadi fled to Saudi Arabia during a rapid rebel advance on the south. Pro-government troops, backed by the coalition of Arab nations, have regained strategic ground from the rebels, including the southern port of Aden.
