Bahrain Mirror: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that Yemen's Houthi group and the Saudi-led coalition fighting it had agreed to a ceasefire in Yemen from Thursday (November 17, 2016), Reuters reported. 

Kerry also said the parties have agreed to work towards the establishing a new national unity government.

The Saudi-backed government of Yemeni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has been fighting the Houthis, allied to Iran, in a war that has lasted 20 months, and claimed the lives of more than 10,000 people, and displaced more than 3 million people.

Speaking after talks in Oman, which is close to the Houthis, and the United Arab Emirates, a key member of the Saudi-led coalition, Kerry said he had presented Houthi delegates with a document outlining a ceasefire and peace deal.

He said the Houthis, whom he met in Oman on Monday night, had agreed to a ceasefire from Thursday, provided the other side implemented it. "And thus far the Emiratis and the Saudis ...they have both agreed to try to move forward with this," he said.

Kerry indicated that "the ceasefire would be on the same terms as an earlier one that ran from April until the end of August, when U.N.-sponsored peace talks in Kuwait ended in disagreement", Reuters added.

Moreover, Kerry said the parties "have agreed to work towards the establishing a new national unity government in a safe and secure Sanaa (the capital)... as a goal towards the end of the year".

Arabic Version