Efforts of ending Sa'ada war stop over violations

By Nasser Arrabyee/08/04/2010

Efforts of ending Al Houthi armed rebellion north of Yemen have stopped after alleged violations by the rebels including kidnapping 11 soldiers, mediators said Thursday.

"We have become convinced that the Al Houthi rebels are not serious in peace process, so we have suspended our work," said a statement by one the four committees in charge of supervising the implementation of the six conditions set by the government and accepted by the rebels to end the war in Sa'ada.

The committee, the one working in Harf Sufyan, said it had stopped because Al Houthi rebels kept delaying and procrastinating the implementation of the six conditions by breaking promises and committing violations in the ground.

Al Houthi rebels held 8 soldiers with a military vehicle and an ambulance in the area Burkan on March 30, 2010, the statement said.

Five more soldiers were held in Al Amashyah on April 2, 2010.

Three people were injured in an explosion of a mine planted by the rebels in an area, which was already cleaned of the mines. The explosion, on April 5th, targeted the car of head of the district of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.

The rebels refused to reopen the road of Barat- Al Jawf, and refused to lift the checkpoints from this road.

On April 7th, the rebels prevented engineers in charge of removing mines from continuing their work in the remaining areas of Harf Sufyan, the statement said.

Meanwhile, Mohammed Abdullah Thabet, the executive manager of the Fund of Sa'ada Reconstruction, said the reconstruction process is linked to the implementation of the six conditions, which include the rebels going down from the mountains and handing over the weapons.