Yemen's president accuses rebels of violations

12 January 2011 - 20H31

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, pictured in 2010, accused northern Shiite rebels of violating an earlier accord with Sanaa in a phone call to Qatar's emir who is leading mediation between both sides, state new agency Saba said Wednesday.

AFP - Yemen's president accused northern Shiite rebels of violating an earlier accord with Sanaa in a phone call to Qatar's emir who is leading mediation between both sides, state new agency Saba said Wednesday.

President Ali Abdullah Saleh told Qatar's Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani that the Zaidi rebels "have not complied" with an agreement both sides signed in Doha in August, Saba reported.

The agreement laid out a timetable for implementing previous accords.

The Zaidi rebels are still "attacking citizens and committing violations in the region," Saba quoted Saleh as saying. They also refuse to free the prisoners they are holding and returning arms seized from security forces, the president said.

The Huthi rebels and the government have repeatedly exchanged accusations of violating a February ceasefire which ended a six-month round of bloody conflict between the two sides.

Besides freeing all prisoners and opening roads in the north, the truce requires the rebels to withdraw from government buildings, return arms seized from security forces, hand over captured army posts and pledge not to attack Saudi Arabia.

Last month, Yemen released 460 Shiite rebel prisoners following Qatari mediation, according to rebels and security officials.

The rebels draw their support from among followers of the Zaidi branch of Shiite Islam, who are in the minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority community in the north.

There have been six rounds of fighting between the rebels and government troops since the uprising first erupted in 2004. The conflict has killed thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.

The last round of fighting began with a government offensive in August last year and saw border clashes between the rebels and Saudi troops. It ended with a six-point peace plan, including a ceasefire that has largely held.

During a visit to the Yemeni capital Sanaa on July 13, Qatari emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani expressed willingness to assist in finding a "solution that would help preserve the unity of Yemen."

Qatar helped broker the first peace agreement between the rebels and the government in June 2007.