SANA’A: Shia rebels and Yemeni officials met yesterday seeking to fine-tune a deal to end a standoff sparked by calls for the government to quit but failed to make headway, a UN diplomat said.
Even so, the two sides agreed to meet again in the presence of UN envoy Jamal Benomar, who has been in Sana’a since Thursday, in a renewed effort to clinch an agreement, the diplomat said. Zaidi rebels have been camped out in the capital for weeks, demanding the resignation of the government, which they accuse of corruption, and a reduction of fuel prices. On Thursday sources from both sides said a potential deal had been reached to end the stalemate.
That deal, reached late Wednesday, stipulated that “a new prime minister will be named within 48 hours” and fuel prices be cut further, a presidency source said. Another source in President Abdrabuh Mansur Hadi’s office said it was an “understanding over an agreement that will be finalised by Benomar.”
Talks to fine-tune the deal were held late Thursday and into the night between government representatives led by presidential adviser Abdelkarim Al Ariani and Mehdi Machchat for the rebels. A source close to the talks said “progress has been achieved” and that discussions focused on a new premier and cutting fuel prices.
The rebels, known as Huthis or Ansarullah, had been demanding that Hadi consult them before naming a new prime minister. Authorities want the rebels to dismantle protest camps in Sana’a as part of a deal to resolve the crisis. “The regime wants the camps dismantled as soon as a new prime minister is named, but we will do this after a new government is formed,” a rebel official said. The rebels have battled the government for years from their Saada heartland in the remote north, complaining of marginalisation under former president Ali Abdullah Saleh.AFP
