Ceasefire deal ends infighting in Yemen

CAIRO: Yemen’s internationally recognised government signed a power-sharing deal on Tuesday with southern separatists backed by the UAE. The deal aims to end months of infighting in the country’s south.

The two groups are in an alliance against Yemen’s Houthi rebels. But their deadly clashes have exposed a potential rift in the anti-Houthi bloc and threatened to further destabilise the Arab world’s poorest country.

Saudi Arabia’s state TV broadcast the signing ceremony in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. That’s where Yemen’s president, Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi, has been in exile since 2014, when the Houthis took control of the capital Sanaa and much of northern Yemen.

In August, the UAE-backed southern separatists took control of Aden, the temporary capital, from forces loyal to Hadi, which are backed by Saudi Arabia.

Tuesday’s power-sharing deal allows for President Hadi to return to Aden and envisages a new Cabinet.

The deal shows the separatists agreed to disband their militias, which would be integrated into Hadi’s forces. In return, the southern separatists are to take part in United Nations-brokered talks between Hadi’s government and the Houthi rebels.

THE POWER-SHARING AGREEMENT WILL ALLOW PRESIDENT MANSOUR HADI TO RETURN TO ADEN AND FORM A NEW CABINET