Yemen's government forces are suspending a five-week-long military operation against Shiite rebels in the mountainous north to mark the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan. It also said the suspension would become a permanent ceasefire if the rebels abided by certain conditions. A rebel spokesman said they would "examine" the conditions. The government statement, on defence ministry website www.26sep.net, also said the suspension was in response to appeals to allow humanitarian aid into the Saada region, where thousands of civilians have been displaced by the fighting.
"The halt in operations comes into force at the time of publication of this communique" at 2am (11pm GMT on Friday), it said. "It has been decided on the occasion of the Eid al-Fitr holiday at the end of Ramadan," expected to begin on Sunday or Monday and lasting for three to five days. It was not immediately possible to verify whether the fighting had halted. The statement added that a permanent ceasefire would come into effect at 9am GMT today if the Zaidi rebels, also known as Huthis, accepted a series of conditions.
The main government demand is that they "respect the ceasefire and the opening of roads, evacuate their positions and free captured civilians and soldiers". Sanaa called on the rebels to "respond to the voice of reason and choose peace to bring an end to the spilling of blood." A rebel spokesman told Al-Jazeera television of the conditions that "we are ready to examine them, and that is natural". Mohammed Abdelsalam said the group had already made known its "commitment to a return to the situation as it was - opening roads, pulling out of our positions and the return of the local authorities".
"We do not wish to keep holding our detainees despite the fact that those in power are holding on to their prisoners, in some cases for more than four years," he added. The army launched operation Scorched Earth against the rebels on August 11, and relief groups warned of worsening humanitarian conditions among the tens of thousands of civilians forced from their homes by the fighting. On Thursday more than 80 civilians were killed when air strikes targeted a makeshift camp of displaced people, witnesses said.
The UN chief Ban Ki-moon expressed alarm at the air strikes and called for an immediate end to the fighting. In Geneva, the UN human rights chief Navi Pillay called for an inquiry, describing the air raids as "deeply disturbing." The government accuses the rebels of seeking to restore the Zaidi Shiite imamate which was overthrown in a 1962 coup that sparked eight years of civil war. *AFP