Qatari mediators trying to broker a peace deal to end a Shiite uprising in Yemen were called home on Friday because of what a Yemeni official called rebel foot-dragging in implementing the plan. "They were recalled for consultations after foot-dragging by (rebel leader) Abdul Malak al-Huthi in agreeing fully to implement the timetable" of the agreement, the official close to the talks told AFP, requesting anonymity. | Didn't they have one of these 'peace agreements' in Yemen already? Or was that the one that ended the war between North Yemen and South Yemen? Or the one before that? |
In an interview published on Wednesday President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused Huthi of "misleading and procrastination." "He has to respect his word and withdraw from positions, otherwise a military solution will be the decisive end," he said.
A member of the committee told AFP that Huthi had demanded "more details about implementation of the timetable." Last month the committee accused the rebels of breaching the deal brokered by Qatar in June, and the Gulf Arab state subsequently recalled its mediators from the committee, reportedly because of wrangling among insurgency leaders. Under the deal the rebels agreed to lay down their arms, ending years of fierce fighting that has killed thousands in one of the world's poorest countries.
An offshoot of Shiite Islam, the Zaidis are a minority in mainly Sunni Yemen but form the majority in the northwest. The rebel aim was to restore the Zaidi imamate which was overthrown in a 1962 republican coup.