Kuwait City — Yemen’s government on Sunday accepted a UN-proposed plan to end fighting, but there was no word from Iran-backed rebels who have intensified attacks on the Saudi border.
Yemen’s internationally-recognized government agreed on Sunday to extend peace talks for another week, reversing an earlier decision to quit the negotiations hosted by Kuwait, according to state television.
The draft agreement, which follows several months of UN-brokered negotiations in Kuwait, stipulates that the Houthi rebels must withdraw from all cities including the capital Sanaa and hand over weapons they looted from army depots within 45 days.
The proposals also provide for the annulment of political bodies emanating from last week’s formalization of an alliance between the Iranian-backed rebels and the General People’s Congress, the political party led by ousted president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
The rebels angered the Yemeni government last week by announcing the formation of a 10-member “supreme council” to run the country — which the Yemeni foreign minister branded a “new coup.”
Under the proposed peace deal, the political council would be abolished along with all decisions made by the rebels since they occupied the capital.
UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has said the alliance violated international resolutions.
Under the new plan, a political dialogue between various Yemeni factions would start 45 days after the rebels withdraw and hand over heavy weapons to a military committee to be formed by the president.
Prisoners of war would also be freed.
The government’s acceptance came after a high-level meeting in Riyadh chaired by President Abdrabbu Mansour Hadi.
“The meeting approved the draft agreement presented by the United Nations calling for an end to the armed conflict and the withdrawal (of rebels) from Sanaa,” and other cities they have seized,” said a statement.
Yemeni Foreign Minister Abdulmalek Al-Mikhlafi, who is leading Hadi’s negotiating team, said he had sent a letter to the UN envoy informing him the government backed what he called the “Kuwait Agreement.”
One pre-condition, however, is that the Houthis and allied forces loyal to Saleh sign the deal by Aug. 7, Mikhlafi wrote on Twitter.
The government’s announcement came just hours after the coalition said a Saudi army officer and six soldiers were killed in border clashes on Saturday with the Yemeni rebels.
The coalition said Houthi fighters, backed by troops loyal to Saleh, tried to breach the Saudi border at the Rabou’a area on Saturday, igniting heavy fighting.
It said in a statement that dozens of Houthi fighters were killed near the border strip and their military vehicles destroyed by coalition aircraft that repelled their assault.
On Monday, five Saudi border guards died in similar clashes.
