SANA’A: Yemen’s government put a draft proposal to rebels on forming a technocrat government yesterday, a spokesman said, as fears mount that a new wave of violence could hit the impoverished nation.
A presidential delegation handed the document to representatives of Shia Houthi rebels, who have camped in their thousands around Sana’a this week, pressing the government to quit.
In a bid to avert deadly clashes, the presidential committee has been holding talks with rebel commander Abdulmalik Al Huthi in his northern Saada stronghold since Thursday to convince his group to join a new government.
The Shias have been staging massive protests against a steep hike in fuel prices, with Houthi demanding that the incumbent national unity government step down.
A rebel ultimatum demanding the resignation of the government, headed by Prime Minister Mohamed Basindawa, passed on Friday with the administration still in power. The government was formed in December 2011 under a transition agreement that paved the way for ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh’s ouster.
“There is a draft agreement and we are waiting for the Houthis to sign and start implementing it in the next hours,” presidential team spokesman Abdulmalek Al Mikhlafi told reporters in Saada.
Mikhlafi said the main points in the accord were to form “a technocrat government within a one-month period from the date of signing the draft document and an economic committee to review the country’s economic situation”.
AFP
