Local Editor
Warring factions in Yemen are preparing to observe a week-long truce from December 15 while U.N.-mediated peace talks take place in Switzerland, Yemen’s foreign minister said Tuesday.
"An agreement on a ceasefire between the government and the putschists should enter into force on December 15 with the start of negotiations," Abdel Malak al-Mekhlafi said.
A source in the cabinet of Yemen’s fugitive former President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi said the truce would last seven days, as specified in a letter sent by Hadi to the U.N. Security Council.
Talks to ease fighting across Yemen have been stalled for months, with the conflict escalating since March when a pro-Hadi coalition led by Saudi Arabia began bombarding its impoverished neighbor.
With the humanitarian crisis in the war-torn country worsening, U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed said on Monday that a swift halt to the fighting was imperative for those caught up in what has increasingly become a regional conflict.
Ahmed told reporters that three delegations would take part in talks likely to be held outside Geneva, which will last "as long as it takes".
The delegations include representatives of Hadi’s government, the Ansarullah movement, and officials from the General People’s Congress [GPC], who are loyalists of former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.
For his part, Ansarullah spokesman Mohammed Abdulsalam said the movement will not attend next week’s UN-mediated peace talks unless Saudi Arabia stops its aggression against the country.
In a Monday phone interview with Yemen’s al-Masirah TV network, Abdulsalam stressed that Riyadh should also end its blockade on Yemen, adding that Ansarullah believes the United Nations is unable to put an end to the Saudi military campaign against the impoverished Arab state.
The United Nations says more than 5,700 people have been killed in Yemen, almost half of them civilians, since the Saudi-led air campaign began in late March.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
