Kerry is seeking to end the fighting between the Houthis, allied to Iran, and the Saudi-backed government of the Yemeni president before Obama’s term ends

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

US secretary of state John Kerry has said that Yemen’s Houthi rebel group and the Saudi-led coalition fighting it had agreed to a ceasefire from Thursday, as Washington presses for an end to the war before Barack Obama leaves office.

The internationally recognised Yemeni government quickly rejected the move, complaining of being bypassed. But it may have little choice if leaned on by Saudi Arabia, on which it depends both militarily and financially.

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More than 10,000 people have been killed and over 3 million displaced in the past 20 months in a war that has been overshadowed by the Syria conflict but which has created a humanitarian catastrophe.

Kerry, in what could be his last trip to the Gulf before Obama’s term ends in January, is seeking a breakthrough to end the fighting between the Houthis, allied to Iran, and the Saudi-backed government of Yemeni president Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

Speaking after talks in Oman, which is close to the Houthis, and the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition, Kerry said he had presented Houthi delegates with a document outlining a ceasefire and peace deal.

He said the Houthis, whom he met in Oman on Monday night, had agreed to a ceasefire from Thursday, provided the other side implemented it. “And thus far the Emiratis and the Saudis ... they have both agreed to try to move forward with this,” he said.

The ceasefire would be on the same terms as an earlier one that ran from April until the end of August, when UN-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait ended in disagreement.

Kerry also said the parties “have agreed to work towards the establishing a new national unity government in a safe and secure Sana’a (the capital) ... as a goal towards the end of the year”.

But Yemeni foreign minister Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said Kerry’s announcement had not been coordinated with his government.

“The government was not aware of, nor is it interested in, what Secretary Kerry announced, which represents a desire to scuttle peace efforts by trying to reach an agreement with the Houthis apart from the government,” Mekhlafi wrote on his official Twitter page.

“I believe the current US administration is incapable of providing any guarantees to any party and what Kerry has said is no more than a media bubble at our people’s expense,” Mekhlafi told Qatar-based al-Jazeera television.

Yemen is a security concern for the United States, partly because al-Qaida has a strong local wing there. In August, Kerry proposed during a visit to Saudi Arabia that the Yemeni parties work simultaneously on setting up a unity government that would incorporate the Houthis while the armed group withdrew from cities it has captured since 2014.

UN special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has been trying to build on the proposals and brought about a three-day ceasefire last month, but fighting resumed as soon as it ended.

In his remarks in Abu Dhabi, Kerry said the Saudis, Emiratis and Houthis had agreed publicly for the first time to send representatives to a de-escalation and coordinating committee and accept the envoy’s roadmap as the basis for negotiations.

Hadi’s government says the Houthis have illegally seized power in a coup backed by Iran, and demands that they quit the cities they have seized and hand over heavy weapons before any political settlement starts.

The Houthis say they seized power to end corruption and to get rid of Islamist militants they say expanded their influence during Hadi’s presidency.

