Ansarullah say ready to stop fighting, join unity government

Yemen’s Ansarullah movement has expressed its readiness to end fighting and join a national unity government in the conflict-ridden country suffering from a deadly Saudi aggression.

"Ansarullah's position has been and still is with stopping the war and the establishment of a national unity government that incorporates all political components," Mohammed al-Bukhaiti, a member of Ansarullah's Political Council, told Reuters on Wednesday.

He made the announcement in response to a question on recent remarks by US Secretary of State John Kerry, who said that Saudi Arabia and the Houthis had agreed to observe a cessation of hostilities from November 17.

Speaking after talks in Oman on Tuesday, Kerry said that he had presented Houthi delegates with a document outlining a ceasefire and peace deal.

The Ansarullah had agreed to observe the truce, provided the other side implemented it, he said, adding, “And thus far the Emiratis and the Saudis... they have both agreed to try to move forward with this.”

Yemen’s warring sides had further reached a consensus to work out a “national unity government in a safe and secure Sana'a... as a goal towards the end of the year," the top Us diplomat pointed out.

Elsewhere in his comments, Bukhaiti confirmed that the Riyadh regime had agreed to end its offensive against Yemen.

“The new thing is in the position of Saudi (Arabia), which has agreed in principle to stop the war as one of the parties to the conflict," he said.

On Tuesday, however, Yemen’s former foreign minister, Abdel Malek al-Mekhlafi, complained that Kerry’s announcement had not been coordinated with the country’s resigned government.

Saudi Arabia has come under international opprobrium for the sheer size of the casualties from the war it is leading since March 2015 to crush the Ansarullah and reinstate the former Yemeni administration. 

SS