Dubai, April 23: A spokesman for Shiite Zaidi rebels in north Yemen on Friday demanded that the government keep its promises and free 1,000 captured militants.
“We have nearly a thousand men being held by the authorities, and none has yet been released. We call on the authorities to free them immediately,” Mohammed Abdelsalam said in Dubai by telephone.
He said the dozens of people already freed had nothing to do with the rebellion, but at the same time he welcomed their release “a positive move.”
“We have freed all of our Yemeni and Saudi prisoners,” Abdelsalam said, adding that the rebels had respected their commitments under a February truce whereas the government had not.
He also denied a government accusation on Thursday that the rebels had called for holy war.
The interior ministry website said that the rebels, also known as Huthis, had distributed leaflets calling for holy war.
“To call for holy war is against our culture. The ministry is making accusations before checking first,” Abdelsalam said.
The ministry website said the rebels had distributed the leaflets after leaders met in the small town of Bart al-Anan in the northern province of Al-Jawf near their strongholds in Saada.
Security services in Al-Jawf warned the Huthis from “playing with fire” and called on to them to commit to the “six-point truce” that led to the February 12 ceasefire after six months of fighting.
After the rebels first launched their uprising in 2004, there were five lulls in the fighting before the government launched a major offensive last August that ended with the February truce.
Both sides have spoken of violations in recent weeks.
The rebels, who complain of economic and political discrimination against the north’s Zaidis, have denied the charge.
—Agencies