Sanaa, September 01: The Yemeni government rejected a truce offer by Shi’ite rebels in the north of the Arabian Peninsula country late on Monday, after accusing Iranian media of stoking the conflict.
“We announce an initiative to stop the war so that roads are opened, the presence of armed mobilisation ends and the situation returns to how it was before,” a statement issued by rebel leader Abdel-Malik al-Houthi’s media office said.
The government rejected the offer, which follows a government ceasefire offered last month.
“The recent announcement of what they said was a ceasefire initiative contained nothing new,” a statement issued on the state news agency by a military official said.
It called on the rebels to reopen roads, remove mines, withdraw from administrative buildings, come down from mountain hideouts, hand over stolen equipment, release hostages and “stop all forms of interference in local government”.
Yemen is battling the rebellion in the mountainous north bordering Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil producer and lynchpin of U.S. policy in the Middle East, as well as violence by al Qaeda militants and secessionist discontent in the south.
Information about the conduct of the war in Yemen’s Saada and Amran provinces is been hard to verify as the area has been closed to media.
More than 100,000 people have fled their homes during the recent surge in fighting, a U.N. agency said last month, and aid groups have complained of poor access to the war zone.
The rebels said an army unit surrendered on Monday, leaving eight tanks in their hands. A government military statement said the claim was a fabrication to cover up losses.
The rebels of the Shi’ite Muslim Zaydi sect say they want more autonomy, including Zaydi schools in their area. They oppose the spread of Saudi-influenced Sunni Muslim fundamentalism and say they are defending their villages against government oppression.
The government says the rebels want to restore a Shi’ite state overthrown in the 1960s and said on Monday it had summoned the ambassador of Shi’ite Iran to protest at Iranian media’s coverage of the fighting.
Saudi-owned Arab media have accused Iran of funding the rebels since the fighting first broke out in 2004.
The rebels — who follow a different version of Shi’ite Islam to that practised in Iran — say Saudi jets have taken part in raids against them. Saudi Arabia is a major backer of veteran Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh.
—Agencies