Yemen president, rebels declare end of fighting in north

Sana' - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh and the leader of Shiite rebels Abdul-Malik al-Houthi have declared the end of fighting in the five-year conflict in the north-west of the Arab country, state TV and a rebel statement said.

Saleh issued a decree Thursday ordering an end to the military offensive against the Shiite rebels, state television reported.

Under the decree, all the military operations against the rebels, known as Houthis after the family of its leaders, would be halted by midnight Thursday.

A few minutes after the government decree was issued, the rebel leader al-Houthi announced a halt to the fighting, saying his followers would withdraw from their positions in the north-western provinces of Amran and Saada on the border with Saudi Arabia by midnight Thursday.

'We decided to stop the military operations in the north-western region and the borderline with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia starting at 00:00 tonight (2100 GMT),' President Saleh said in the decree.

He said the end of the fighting was intended to 'stop the bloodshed, create peace and allow the return of the displaced people to their villages'.

Saleh said his decision to halt the military attack was in response to the rebels' truce offer and their 'commitment to comply with the six terms' set out by the government as conditions to end the military offensive.

Saleh met with members of parliament entrusted with overseeing the implementation of the ceasefire and approved the formation of four field committees to monitor the ceasefire, according to the official Saba news agency.

Al-Houthi said in an e-mailed statement that he gave orders to his followers to 'withdraw from all fronts of fighting and to cease fire at the same time announced by the government'.

'After the fire is ceased, the roads will be opened and checkpoints will be removed,' al-Houthi said in the statement.

The Shiite rebel group announced a unilateral ceasefire with the national army Jan 30, a few days after announcing a truce with Saudi Arabia.

Rebel leader al-Houthi made the truce announcement in an audiotape posted on the group's website, saying he accepted the government's conditions for an end to the army's offensive against the rebels which was launched last summer.

Al-Houthi said his ceasefire offer intends to 'stop the bloodshed' and 'prevent Yemen from falling into a catastrophic situation'.

The government said it wants a pledge (from rebels) not to attack Saudi territories.

This is the fourth truce offer to be made by the rebels since the conflict started in mid-2004. The government has since also announced three ceasefire offers. Every time a unilateral or bilateral truce has been announced, it has collapsed before taking effect due to mistrust between the two sides.

Army forces have been pounding rebel bases in Saada since Aug 11. The offensive included aerial, artillery and missile strikes on rebel strongholds in strategic heights overlooking the Saudi border.

The government's six conditions for halting its all-out attack against the rebels included the end of hostilities by the insurgents; their withdrawal from all districts and mountainous positions; and the surrender of military hardware seized from the army.

The government also called for the rebels to give up their heavy and medium weapons and hand over military personnel they captured during the fighting.

One condition that was dropped was the demand for clarification from the rebels about the fate of a German family of five and a British engineer taken hostage in Saada in June.

The six people were among a group of foreign hostages - seven Germans, a Briton and a South Korean - abducted by armed men in Saada, where the rebels operate.

Three of the hostages - two German women and a South Korean female teacher - were found dead two days after the abduction.

This condition was dropped after the Houthis insisted that they had nothing to do with the abduction.

Members of the al-Houthi group have been battling the Yemeni government forces since mid-2004 in Saada, along the Saudi Arabian border.

They say they are fighting against the Yemeni government's corruption and its alliance with the US.

The Sana'a government accuses the Houthis of trying to reinstall the rule of Shiite imams who were toppled by a republican revolution in northern Yemen in 1962.

In November, the rebels carried out a cross-border raid, killing a Saudi border guard and drawing Saudi forces into the conflict.

Source: Malaysia News.
Link: http://www.malaysianews.net/story/600445.