Yemen says it will end offensive if rebels agree ceasefire - Summary

Sana'a, Yemen - Yemen's National Defense Council said on Sunday the army will stop its offensive against Shiite rebels if they end hostilities and comply with the government's conditions. Chaired by the country's president Ali Abdullah Saleh, the council issued a statement after a meeting in Sana'a to discuss a truce offer announced by the Shiite rebel leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi.

"The National Defense Council affirms that if the Houthi commit to the six points the government has already announced as a condition for ending the military operations ... the government does not have any objection to stop the military operations," said a statement posted on the Defense Ministry's website.

It said the rebels should also pledge not to launch cross-border attacks against Saudi Arabia.

The official Saba news agency reported continued fighting between government forces and the rebels in Saada and neighboring Amran province on Sunday.

It said the army killed 24 rebels in confrontations in several districts of Saada and the Harf Sufian district of Amran.

The Shiite rebel group announced a unilateral ceasefire with the national army on Saturday, a few days after they announced a truce with Saudi Arabia.

Rebel leader al-Houthi made the 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, launched last summer.

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

The Defense Council said in its statement Sunday it also wants "a pledge (from rebels) not to attack territories of Saudi Arabia and to immediately handover Yemenis and Saudis they have kidnapped."

It said any cease fire should be based on "specific and clear mechanisms and to ensure non-recurrence of confrontations."

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 cease fire offers. Every time a unilateral or bilateral truce is announced, it collapsed before taking effect due to mistrust between the two sides.

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

The government has set out six conditions for it to halt its all- out attack against the rebels.

The conditions included the end of hostilities by the insurgents, known as Houthis after their leader's family, and their withdrawal from all districts and mountainous positions and the surrendering 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 for a 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 woman 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 al-Houthi group have been battling the Yemeni government forces since mid-2004 in Saada, along the Saudi Arabia.

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

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: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/306781,yemen-says-it-will-end-offensive-if-rebels-agree-ceasefire.html.