Local Editor
Yemen’s warring factions are set to observe a ceasefire starting Monday at midnight, the exiled Hadi government said, despite growing signs of mutual mistrust on the eve of U.N.-brokered peace talks.
A lull in fighting is sorely needed in the Arabian Peninsula’s poorest nation, where an estimated 80 percent of the population requires humanitarian aid.
Extremists, including the ISIS group, have exploited the violence, gaining ground and carrying out deadly attacks against both sides of the conflict.
The Saudi-led coalition and Ansarullah forces have yet to say if they will abide by the ceasefire agreement, despite measurement last week by the U.N. envoy that Riyadh had promised to pause its aerial assault during talks.
Mueen Abdulmalek, a member of the coalition-backed government’s delegation at peace talks, said that the ceasefire will start at midnight local time.
"We hope the militias will commit to the ceasefire this time," he said, referring to the rebels.
A presidency official confirmed the truce was agreed by fugitive former President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi and Yemen’s U.N. envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed.
Previous U.N. efforts have failed to narrow differences, and past ceasefires haven’t held.
Source: News Agencies, Edited by Website Team
