Yemen govt accepts UN peace plan

By Zakaria al-Kamali

SANAA (AA) – The Yemeni government has accepted a UN-proposed peace agreement to end an armed conflict with the Shia Houthi group in Yemen.

In a Sunday statement, the Yemeni Presidency said it has “accepted a draft agreement proposed by the United Nations for ending the armed conflict” in Yemen.

Foreign Minister Abdul Malek al-Mekhlafi tweeted that President Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi has delegated the government delegation to sign the agreement.

He, however, conditioned that the Houthi group sign the draft agreement before Aug. 7 – the deadline for the current round of UN-sponsored talks in Kuwait.

According to al-Mekhlafi, the draft calls for the handover of arms and the withdrawal of militias from capital Sanaa, Taiz and Al-Hudaydah in central and western Yemen as a “preparatory step”.

The Saba news agency said that political dialogue will start between Yemeni rivals 45 days after signing the draft agreement.

Al-Mekhlafi said that the agreement also calls for all detainees and captives.

Yemen has been racked by chaos since late 2014, when the Houthis and their allies overran capital Sanaa and other parts of the country, forcing Hadi and his Saudi-backed government to temporarily flee to Riyadh.

In March of last year, Saudi Arabia and its Arab allies launched a massive military campaign in Yemen aimed at reversing Houthi gains and restoring Hadi’s embattled government.

Backed by Saudi-led airstrikes, pro-Hadi forces have since managed to reclaim large swathes of the country’s south -- including provisional capital Aden -- but have failed to retake Sanaa and other strategic areas.

In April of this year, the Yemeni government and the Houthis entered into UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait aimed at resolving the conflict, in which more than 6,400 people have been killed and another 2.5 million forced to flee their homes.