Yemen government announces truce with Houthi rebels

Sanaa - Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced his government and the Houthi fighters have reached a truce agreement, which took effect at midnight.

After years of severe fighting that has killed thousands and displaced hundreds of thousands of Yemenis, President Ali Abdullah Saleh announced on Thursday that the government and the Houthi rebels have reached a ceasefire agreement that would end fighting in the northern region of the country, according to BBC News. For days, the two sides were negotiating peace deals to end the conflict and finally the leader of the Houthis ordered his men to abide by the truce, however, analysts and observers wonder how long the truce will last. Al Jazeera reports that the truce was made possible after the group accepted six conditions put forward by the government one week after it rejected a Houthi truce offer because it did not include a measure to end the hostilities in neighboring Saudi Arabia. One part of the decree will allow Houthi representatives to sit on a committee overseeing the truce, while the rebels would hand over weapons they captured from Yemeni and Saudi Arabian forces. The President issued a statement on state television and said, “We decided to stop military operations in the north-west from midnight.” In response to Saleh’s statement, Abdel-Malik Badreddin al-Houthi said, “Once the ceasefire is consolidated, we will proceed to reopening roads and dismantling checkpoints and barricades.” However, Al Bawaba reports that there have been reports of clashes where 36 people were killed, including 12 Yemeni troops and 24 Shiite rebels (Houthis) in the Amran province north of Sanaa. Also, violence broke out on Wednesday between the two sides where seven soldiers and 11 Houthi rebels died.