Yemen’s Houthis reject UN proposal to continue peace talks

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, did not disclose the terms of the proposal but Yemen’s foreign minister said it required the rebels to withdraw from Sanaa and its surroundings and from Taez and Hodeida, and to hand over weapons they looted from military depots within 45 days.

Members of the pro-government Southern Resistance gather at the site of a car bomb attack in the southern port city of Aden on July 31, 2016. Reuters
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ADEN // Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Sunday rejected a new UN proposal to continue talks to end the war in the country, after government negotiators cancelled plans to leave and agreed to stay in Kuwait for another week.

The UN special envoy to Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, did not disclose the terms of the proposal but Yemen’s foreign minister said it required the rebels to withdraw from Sanaa and its surroundings and from Taez and Hodeida, and to hand over weapons they looted from military depots within 45 days.

Foreign minister Abdelmalek Al Mikhlafi said president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi had authorised the government delegation to accept the agreement on condition that the rebels also sign it before August 7.

The UN proposal also requires the release of all detainees and prisoners, especially those mentioned in UN Security Council resolution 2216, which laid down the guidelines for the restoration of Yemen’s internationally recognised government.

Mr Al Mikhlafi said it was now up to the rebel side to “prove its commitment to the Yemeni people, to peace and to stopping the war and destruction by signing the agreement”.

However, the rebels insisted that any agreement must first tackle their demand for a unity administration.

“What was presented by the envoy was no more than just ideas for a solution to the security aspect, subject to debate like other proposals,” a statement from the rebel delegation in Kuwait said.

The statement cited by the rebel-run Saba news agency charged that the government announcement of a draft settlement was “no more than media stunts” aimed at foiling talks.

The Iran-backed rebels reiterated their long-standing demand that a peace deal must first forge an accord on a new consensual executive authority, including a new president and government.

That demand has been rejected by Mr Hadi’s internationally recognised government, which is backed by a military coalition led by Saudi Arabia that includes the UAE.

Mr Ould Cheikh Ahmed’s proposed agreement on Sunday was a last-ditch attempt to save the peace negotiations after the government side decided to pull out in response to a rebel declaration last week that they would set up a “supreme council” to rule Yemen together with the party of their ally, former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.

The agreement also provides for the annulment of the supreme council, which formalised an alliance between the Houthis and Mr Saleh’s General People’s Congress (GPC).

Mr Cheikh Ahmed has said the council would be a violation of UN resolutions and urged both sides to “refrain from unilateral actions that undermine political transition”.

Meanwhile, two bombings hit the southern city of Aden, the temporary seat of Mr Hadi’s government, underlining the Yemen’s precarious security conditions.

A pro-government militia leader was killed and three of his guards were wounded when a bomb planted in their car was remotely detonated, security officials said. They identified the militia commander as Saleh Al Geneidi, leader of a pro-government militia in Lawdar, in the southern Abyan province.

Also in Aden, a car bomb apparently intending to hit a military convoy belonging to UAE forces in the city went off but missed its target. The officials said they suspected that militants of Al Qaeda’s branch in Yemen were behind the two attacks in Aden.

Al Qaeda and ISIL have exploited the turmoil of Yemen’s war to expand their operations in the country.

foreign.desk@thenational.ae

* With additional reporting from Associated Press and Agence France-Presse