International
0

Yemen’s Houthis Reject UN Draft Peace Plan

Yemen’s Houthis Reject UN Draft Peace Plan
Yemen’s Houthis Reject UN Draft Peace Plan

Fighters in Sana’a have dismissed a UN proposal to end fighting in their country. The plan, which had been accepted by the ousted government, was no more than a “media stunt”, they said.

“What was presented by the [UN] envoy was no more than just ideas for a solution to the security aspect, subject to debate like other proposals,” the Houthi delegation said in a statement from Kuwait, adding that the draft agreement was only a “media stunt”.

However, they welcomed UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed’s proposal to extend talks for another week, DPA reported.

The new UN plan proposes political dialog between the government and the opposition fighters 45 days after the fighters withdraw and hand over Sana’a and other cities they seized in 2014. They would also have to surrender heavy weapons to a military committee formed by the fugitive president, Abd-Rabbo Mansour Hadi, and free prisoners of war.

However, the Houthi opponents of the president say that a peace deal must agree to a new executive authority in Yemen, including a new president and government.

Earlier on Sunday, Hadi’s government, which operates from the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh, accepted the UN proposal under the condition that Houthis withdraw from the capital, Sana’a, and two other cities they took over in September 2014.

More than 6,400 people have died and over 6.8 million have been displaced after former president, Ali Abdullah Saleh, was displaced in 2012. The situation worsened after civil war broke out in the country nearly two years ago.

According to the UN, more than 80% of the country’s population are in dire need of humanitarian aid.

Financialtribune.com