SANAA (Agencies)
The commander of Shiite rebels in Yemen has agreed to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's terms for an end to a four-year conflict that cost thousands of lives, an official mouthpiece said Thursday
In a letter to Saleh, Abdul Malak al-Huthi said he was "committed to the 10 points set by the president" for an end to fighting in the northwestern province of Saada, said the September 26 website of the defense ministry.
These include a ceasefire, the reopening of blocked roads and an end to armed manifestations, it said.
The Zaidi rebels, who belong to an offshoot of Shiite Islam, would come down from the mountains where they have been holed up and hand over their heavy and medium weapons to the authorities.
They would release military personnel and civilians abducted during the conflict. Gunmen from outside Saada would return to their home regions and the entire province would come under government control, according to the defense ministry website.
Huthi "declared in his letter that he and his followers are fully committed to preserving security and stability in Saada ... and that they are part of the (Yemeni) people with the same rights and duties," it said.
Saleh announced on July 17 that the revolt which broke out in 2004 was over, but there has been no confirmation from Huthi, and local military and tribal sources have since reported sporadic clashes between government forces and rebels in the area.
A tribal source close to Huthi told AFP last week that the rebels' field commander had agreed with the president on halting clashes in Saada's Marran mountains and the locality of Harf Sufian in Amran province, south of Saada.
But the source said rebels were still carrying out attacks in several parts of Saada as part of efforts to regain outposts they previously lost to the army. He said the rebels were still holding a number of soldiers and police prisoner.
Another tribal source said some rebels were also carrying out revenge attacks against tribesmen who backed the army and whom they describe as "agents."
Saleh is himself a Zaidi but the rebels rejected his regime as illegitimate. The insurgents are known as Huthis after their late commander, Hussein Badr Eddin al-Huthi, who was killed by the army in September 2004. Hussein was succeeded as field commander by Abdul Malak, his brother. |
