The UN special envoy for Yemen has announced the plan for a ceasefire starting on Wednesday night.



Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed has received assurances from all Yemeni parties for a ceasefire to begin at 23:59 Yemen time on Wednesday, for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal, a statement released on Monday said.



The country’s foreign minister has said in an official tweet that the president, Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi, has agreed to the 72-hour ceasefire. “The president agreed to a 72 hrs ceasefire to be extended if the other party adheres to it, activates the DCC and lifts the siege of Taiz,” Abdel-Malek al-Mekhlafi said. The DCC is the military commission responsible for overseeing ceasefires.

Monday’s announcements came hours after Britain and the US called for an immediate ceasefire as they tried to seize on outrage caused by the killing of 140 people in a Saudi airstrike.



Fighting between Iranian-backed Houthis and the Yemeni government, which is supported by Gulf states, has been going on for more than 18 months, far longer than the Gulf states expected.



The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said if Yemen’s opposing sides accepted and moved forward on a ceasefire then the UN special envoy, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, would work through the details and announce when and how it would take effect.

“This is the time to implement a ceasefire unconditionally and then move to the negotiating table,” Kerry said after a brief meeting with the British foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, and other officials in London on Sunday. “We cannot emphasise enough today the urgency of ending the violence in Yemen.”

Kerry said he, Johnson and Cheikh Ahmed were calling for the implementation of a ceasefire “as rapidly as possible, meaning Monday, Tuesday”. Kerry and Johnson also met the Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir.

On 8 October a Saudi air raid on a funeral killed 140 people and wounded 525 others, drawing severe criticism of the Arab coalition.

Cheikh Ahmed said the attack took place “amid significant progress in the long peace negotiations, and at a time when we were negotiating a durable accord”.

At the weekend Saudi Arabia admitted responsibility for the airstrike and blamed incorrect intelligence and improper procedures. It said it was taking disciplinary measures, awarding compensation to families of the victims and easing the air blockade that it enforces to allow the evacuation of the most seriously wounded for treatment abroad.

Britain’s Foreign Office said on Saturday it would take into account the Saudi investigation into the attack when deciding its policy on allowing arms sales to Saudi Arabia.

Britain knows it could be accused of hypocrisy if it condemns Russian backing for indiscriminate Syrian bombing but does not do the same in response to Saudi outrages.

Washington has accused Houthi rebels of firing missiles at US warships in the Red Sea on 9 and 12 October. The missiles fell short of their targets. On Saturday the US navy said it was investigating another possible missile attack on a group of American warships.