Yemen cautiously welcomes US peace plan
RIYADH // Yemen’s exiled government says it welcomes in principle a US plan to resume peace talks with the country’s Houthi rebels over a unity government.
At a meeting in Riyadh, the cabinet gave an “initial welcoming to the ideas that came out of the meeting in Jeddah”, the government’s website said late on Saturday.
US secretary of state John Kerry announced a fresh internation- al peace initiative to resolve the 17-month conflict on Thursday after meeting Gulf foreign ministers, a British minister and the UN envoy to Yemen.
The plan offers the Iran-backed Houthis and fighters loyal to former president Ali Abdullah Saleh a chance to take part in a unity government. In turn they must withdraw from Sanaa and other key areas, and surrender heavy weapons to a third party.
The rebels had been demanding a unity government as the first step to resolving Yemen’s war.
But the internationally backed government of president Abdrabu Mansur Hadi wanted rebels to pull out from seized territory, including the capital, and to surrender weapons as the first steps, in line with a UN Security Council resolution on the crisis.
On Saturday, the government stressed its “readiness to positively deal with any peaceful solu- tions”. But it said any proposal should comply with the UN resolution.
A foreign ministry official said Yemen had not officially received the new proposal, adding that UN envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed was given the task of delivering it to warring parties.
UN-sponsored talks in Kuwait collapsed in early August after three months.