Yemen's new ceasefire with Houthi rebels lasts a matter of hours

Yemen announced on Sunday that it had reached a ceasefire agreement with Houthi rebels, a powerful clan-based armed group who had been making progress towards the capital Sanaa.

However, the agreement appeared to be over before it had begun, with reports in al-Khabar Now of clashes breaking out between the army and Shiite rebels in Amran province hours later, along with political rumblings over the supposed ceasefire.

On Sunday, the official state news agency, Saba, published the text of what it called a ceasefire agreement, the second to be announced in June 2014, which was reached “with the generous support” of President Mansur Hadi.

According to the agreement, which aims to put a final end to ongoing clashes between rebels and government forces in the northern province of Amran, both sides are required to practise “self-control” in areas surrounding Amran and all areas where tension is high.

President Hadi had come under political pressure to re-establish government control in Amran province, after increased violence led “large numbers” of residents to flee to the capital in the absence of refugee agencies, according to a source quoted by Egyptian news site el-Balad.

 Translation: #Yemen from a protest by the sons of #Amran in front of Hadi’s house yesterday on Saturday [poster: save Amran from Houthi terrorism]

After its announcement, the text of the agreement attracted criticism from some quarters, with suggestions that the stipulations were too lax towards the rebels:

Translation: #Yemen – Anyone reading the articles of the ceasefire would feel that it is an agreement between two rebel groups, or two tribes separated by a vendetta, rather than one between criminal elements and army forces representing the state!

Despite some opposition, the ruling party appeared to give the ceasefire agreement its full support on Monday, deleting from its website all articles that described Houthis as “rebels” and their leader, Abdel Malik al-Houthi, as a “terrorist”.

However, Yemen’s government was far from united on the issue.

Ahmed Hussein al-Bakry, an official representative for Amran province, denied on Monday that any ceasefire agreement had been reached.

In a post on what claims to be his official Facebook page, he wrote that reports of a ceasefire agreement in the media, including in the state news agency, are “false”.

“It is not a ceasefire. The warring parties have not signed. It is a vision for a solution.”

Another prominent government official also questioned the basis of the agreement immediately after its announcement late on Sunday.

Abdel Rahman al-Saar, a member of the Presidential Council whose name appears in the list of signatories to the agreement, told Yemeni news site Marib Press that he had not been invited to any meetings regarding the agreement, and that he had not been present at its signing.

He warned that the text of the agreement, which he said was signed at the defence minister’s house in the capital last Thursday, risks giving Houthi rebels a chance to plan a comeback.

Expressing his astonishment that the agreement did not require rebels to put down their weapons, he accused the defence minister of half-hearted commitment to ending the conflict in Amran, saying that “if he was sincere in his intention to solve the crisis, he would work to implement the articles of the previous agreement”.

The agreement announced on Sunday is only the latest in a long line of ceasefires between government forces and Houthi rebels, who have been fighting the government since 1994 and who complained of marginalisation under former President Ali Abdullah Saleh.

Saleh stepped aside in 2012 after year-long protests in which Houthi fighters played a key role.

The Houthi rebels are opposed to plans announced recently to split the country into six devolved regions, saying that the move would deepen economic divides in what is already the poorest country in the region.

The previous ceasefire agreement was broken last week, in a continuation of the clashes that have killed an estimated 200 people in 2014 so far.

Many of those who are opposed to the armed rebels accuse them of being funded either by Iran or by former President Abdullah Saleh, who last week raised fears of an attempted coup against current President Mansur Hadi.