Thursday, February 11, 2010

Yemen Confirms a Cease-Fire with Rebels

The Yemeni government announced today they are ending its military operations against the Houthi rebels in northern Yemen. The two reportedly announced a truce that took place at 4pm ET. The Yemeni government is hoping the cease-fire will stop the large amounts of bloodshed and allow for northern Yemen to reconstruct. U.S Embassy spokesman said rebel leader Abdul Malik Al- Houth agreed to the six conditions in the cease-fire. The six conditions included: clearing mines, not interfering with local officials, releasing civilians and military personnel, abiding by Yemeni law, returning stolen items, and ending attacks within the country's northern neighbor, Saudi Arabia. The rebels started their revolt in 2004 over the slain Shiite cleric Hussein al-Houthi. The group is Shiite, while most of Yemen is Sunni, which is a large part to the conflict. Human Rights watch has reported that the conflict between the Yemeni government and the Houthi rebels has displaced over 250,000 Yemeni citizens. The Yemeni government now hopes to focus solely on the growing number of Al Qaeda members in the south.

By: Alyssa Rabulinski

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